1. 
Be men and women who are free and responsible; make the family a center that radiates peace and joy; be promoters of life, from its beginning to its natural end; protect the elderly, since they deserve respect and admiration for the good they have done. ...
Above all, have great respect for the institution of the sacrament of Matrimony. There cannot be true domestic happiness unless, at the same time, there is fidelity between spouses. Marriage is an institution of natural law, which has been raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament; it is a great gift that God has given to mankind: respect it and honour it. At the same time, God calls you to respect one another when you fall in love and become engaged, since conjugal life, reserved by divine ordinance to married couples, will bring happiness and peace only to the extent that you are able to build your future hopes upon chastity, both within and outside marriage. ... Seek to resist forcefully the snares of evil that are found in many contexts, driving you towards a dissolute and paradoxically empty life, causing you to lose the precious gift of your freedom and your true happiness.
Benedict XVI
Meeting with the Youth
São Paulo, May 10, 2007
Meeting with the Youth
São Paulo, May 10, 2007
2. For some great pictures of the Holy Father's Apostolic Journey to Brazil (in several sizes), go to the galleries at Visita do Papa.
3. Brazilian blogs (in Portuguese - thanks to a local reader) register the stubborn refusal of the pro-abortion Brazilian president to kneel and kiss the Fisherman's Ring. Catholic Kings and Queens kneel before the Successor of Peter, but the Catholic president of Brazil seems to be a member of the ever-growing "Non serviam" category of Catholic politicians...
4. From a Brazilian newspaper (thanks to a reader):
Rabbi Henry Sobel, president of the rabbinate of the São Paulo Israelite Congregation (CIP) said yesterday, after leaving the ecumenical and interreligious meeting with the Pope in the Monastery of Saint Benedict, that he was not only blessed by Benedict XVI, but also had the opportunity to bless him.
"With great humility, I asked for a blessing and was blessed. I also asked the Pope's permission to bless him, a permission which was granted to me". He declared himself "light and happy" and he mentioned that he had no opportunity to show regret for the necktie shoplifting episode [Say what? Oh... this], for which he was arrested last March 23, in Florida.
