<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Palatino Linotype" LANG="0">Hello you all,<BR>
Father Leonardo Sandri, the Vatican's Secretary of State for general affairs, was in Santiago last weekend for the Labor Day celebrations.<BR>
"Obradoiro" is a Galician word that means worker, (Obrero, in Castilian Spanish). <BR>
In the European and American Latin countries the first of May is Labor Day and it is an official national holiday. Commemorating the day 4,000 workers in Santiago received Holy Communion during last Saturday's Pilgrims Mass at noon; the celebration spilled over to Obradoiro Square and lasted, understandably, much longer than usual. <BR>
Msgr. Julio Barrio, the Santiago Archbishop, took advantage of father Landri's presence in Santiago to send a hand-delivered invitation to the Pope, asking him to attend the August 8th ceremonies that will mark the arrival in Santiago of the 50,000 young Europeans pilgrims who will participate in the special European Youth pilgrimage mentioned in an earlier message.<BR>
The people at the Archdiocese seem quite confident that the Pope will accept the invitation.<BR>
Warm regards,<BR>
Rosina <BR>
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