Vatican City, Jul 29, 2010 / 08:25 am
A film called "Five Years: Pope Benedict XVI" will be screened at Castel Gandolfo on Thursday evening in the presence of the Holy Father.
The Holy See announced the event, thus providing a brief glimpse of the Pope's activities during his vacation time. Besides the weekly Angelus every Sunday at noon, the only other time the Pope has been seen in the media since the general audience on July 7 was through a video released last week in which he was seen writing, praying the Rosary and feeding goldfish in a garden pool.
According to the Vatican statement announcing the movie, the film focuses on the "impressions in Rome and on trips," showing important moments from Benedict's pontificate, beginning with his election in April 2005 to today.
The film was created by German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk and written and directed by Michael Mandlik, who won a Bavarian TV award for his coverage of Rome and the Vatican during the Jubilee Year in 2000.
It will be shown in the Swiss Hall of the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo at 5:30 p.m., according to the Vatican.
Bayerischer Rundfunk also made a film in 2006 titled "Willkommen Benedikt - Der Papst und Marktl am Inn" (Welcome Benedict-- The Pope and Marktl am Inn), which welcomed the Pope to his position and examined his origins.
The Pope plans to be in the Vatican again on the evening of Aug. 3 to meet with a group of 53,000 European altar servers on pilgrimage and will host the general audience the following day.