Archbishop Lajolo celebrates Mass in Moscow Cathedral

Moscow, Russia, Oct 31, 2005 / 22:00 pm

During the celebration of a Pontifical Mass on Sunday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Russia, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, said the Eucharist is the eternal Bread of Life that satisfies the hunger and thirst of the Christian pilgrim and that should be shared with others.

“The Eucharist is the eternal Bread of Life, not as something sublime and unreachable, but rather as an experience of love that satiates our hunger and thirst as pilgrims.  The Eucharist is Bread of the pilgrim, joy in the pilgrimage, and gift that the Christian pilgrim receives in order to share with others as well,” the archbishop said during the Mass concluding the Year of the Eucharist and the Eucharistic Congress of the Diocese of Moscow.

As he began the Mass, Archbishop Lajolo thanked Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusieviz of Moscow for the invitation to celebrate Mass and he extended to all those present the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI.

According to Vatican Radio, the Holy See’s top foreign policy official traveled to Russia to learn of “the position and view of the Russian government about diverse problems of an international order and to make known the Holy See’s viewpoint.”  His visit was in response to an invitation by the country’s foreign minister, Sergej Lavrov, who met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, last June.