Posted by Father Claude Barthe, chaplain of the Traditional Pilgrimage to Rome, concluded yesterday, at Le Forum Catholique:
After the ceremony [the Pontifical Mass celebrated at the Altar of the Chair in the Vatican Basilica], from which Cardinal Cañizares left el mar del contento [sic - rather la mar de contento, i.e. exceedingly glad], particularly due to the atmosphere of prayer and because of the piety of the participants (and the numerous children!), one of his questions was: "Were there members of the FSSPX [Society of St. Pius X - SSPX]?" - It must be said that the Cardinal knows Bp. Fellay [SSPX Superior General] personally. I told him that I had recognized numerous FSSPX faithful, which gladdened him greatly. I did not note the presence of FSSPX priests, but the priests were too numerous for me to recognize all of them. We concluded that next time Bp. Fellay would surely be present. "¡Claro!" ["Certainly!"]
[Update] The text of the message sent by the Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, in the name of the Holy Father, to the participants, has also been made public:
On the occasion of the international pilgrimage assembled in Rome for the 5th anniversary of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI sends his cordial greeting to all participants, assuring them of his fervent prayer.By this Motu Proprio, the Holy Father wished to respond to the expectations of the faithful attached to the ancient liturgical forms. Truly, as he wrote in his Letter to the bishops to present the Motu Proprio, it is good to preserve the riches that grew within the faith and prayer of the Church and to give them their just place, while recognizing fully the value and holiness of the ordinary form of the Roman rite. In this Year of Faith, promulgated as the Church celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the II Vatican Council, the Holy Father invites all the faithful to display in a particular fashion their unity in the faith; they will thus be efficacious agents of the new evangelization.Entrusting all the participants of the pilgrimage to Rome to the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Father grants them his heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.+Cardinal Tarcisio BertoneSecretary of State of His Holiness
