Barcelona, Spain, Nov 7, 2010 / 08:27 am
The Church of the Holy Family’s altar was blessed and the church officially dedicated by Pope Benedict XVI on the morning of Nov. 7. The ceremony took place 128 years after the first stone was laid in Barcelona, Spain.
Considering the faith of the church's main architect, Antoni Gaudi, who died in 1926, the Pope said that in a certain sense the dedication of the church is a "high point" of the deep religious history of the Catalonia region where Barcelona is located.
During the dedication rite, the altar and walls of the church were anointed with chrism oil, and incense was burned at the altar.
The Church of the Holy Family – also know as “Sagrada Familia” - "stands as a visible sign of the invisible God, to whose glory these spires rise like arrows pointing towards absolute light and to the One who is Light, Height and Beauty itself," the Pope said.