Vatican City, Jun 23, 2010 / 09:33 am
Following Wednesday's general audience, the Holy Father received the thousands of text messages sent to him as part of an initiative through an Italian television network last month.
The texting initiative was part of a large-scale mobilization of mostly Italian Catholics and Church movements to show of solidarity with the Pope at the Regina Coeli prayer on May 16. The event was sponsored by "In His Image," a television program aired on Italy's RAI television network, in association with the Italian Bishops' Conference.
According to Italy's APCOM news, the Pope received the 20,000 text messages sent to him on Wednesday. They were printed in two large volumes which included a total of 2,300 pages between them and were accompanied by a reflection written by the president of Italian bishops, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.
The director of the RAI UNO channel, Mauro Mazza, and "In His Image" host Rosario Carello were on hand to give the Pope the volumes in person.