Rome, Italy, Mar 23, 2012 / 09:00 am
Pope Benedict XVI set off this morning from Rome on his apostolic journey to Mexico and Cuba with predictions that his visit will provide a well-timed morale boost.
“Great is the attention with which the entire international community looks towards your new mission, … and intense are the expectations and hope of the population that is about to meet you,” Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said in his March 23 traditional farewell telegram.
“I am convinced that your pending visit will transmit deep feelings of closeness and communion with the peoples of these countries and the entire Latin American continent,” he said.
President Napolitano believes the visit will be a “high morale booster for facing, in a spirit of renewed solidarity and unity, the important civil and social challenges facing these nations.”
Pope Benedict departed from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport at 9:50 a.m. He was accompanied to his flight by the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti.