Rome, Italy, Dec 4, 2008 / 09:33 am
L’Osservatore Romano reported this week that the Italian Federation of Bread Bakers has donated to the Pope one thousand loaves of “panettone” (a traditional Christmas sweet bread) for the poor who receive assistance from Caritas and for those who come to the Missionary of Charity’s shelter “Gift of Mary.”
At the conclusion of the Wednesday General Audience, the president of the Federation, Luca Vecchiato, and the honorary president, Edi Jerian, presented the plan to the Holy Father along with an 11-pound “panettone.” The Federation has been donating the sweet bread each year at Christmas since 2000.
At the end of the audience the Pontiff was also presented with a copy in Danish of his book “Jesus of Nazareth” by Bishop Czeslaw Kozon and the book’s translator Jakob E. Thorsen.