Pope Benedict XVI's Official Visit to Spain: November 6-7, 2010


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The Pope did a rant a the anti-catholic government of Zapatero and reminded Spaniards of their past.
Latin American Herald Tribune - Pope Decries Spanish Secularism

Letizia looked strange and not happy at all. Quite uncomfortable.
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Pope+Benedict+XVI+Visits+Santiago+de+Compostela+8vLT--nVzgel.jpg

Letizia received the communion as her first marriage was only civil and not recognized by the church. Otherwise she wouldnt have been allowed to marry Felipe in the first place.

Great pictures in general. The pope was received appropriately, he is not only the pope but also Head of State of the Vatican.
 
Princess Letizia and Prince Felipe attended the Pope Benedict XVI mass at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral

PPE Agency
 
Are other members of the Royal Family present at the Mass or is it just the King & Queen ?
 
Strangely today only HM Queen Sofia received Communion and not the King.
 
Both Letizia and Elena can receive the communion. The usual rule is that divorcees that also have a church wedding can take the communion until they marry again civilly or "live in sin".

I aso found strange that K J-C didn't receive the communion. :ermm:
 
someone please tell me about the position of the men siting behind CP couple in mass. i saw them many times with them.
thanks in advance.
 
someone please tell me about the position of the men siting behind CP couple in mass. i saw them many times with them.
thanks in advance.

The military is one of the "aide du camp"
Jaime Alfonsin, Secretary of the Prince
Ricardo Diez Hotchleiner, General Secretary of the House of the King
I do not know who is the last one, maybe a safety chief

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/5914/espanavisitapapamisaenlt.jpg
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3408/espanavisitapapamisaenl.jpg
 
I thought she looked uncomfortable yesterday as well.

For me she just looked tired. No wonder seing her involved in so many official duties within the last weeks/months. It would not surprise me when she exhausted.
 
I saw some live coverages the last two days, unlike friendly John Paul II, Pope Benedict was a bit stiff and cold, he didn't notice the existence of the women (Letizia or Sofia) at all. Even Sofia didn't look comfortable at the audience. His speech on the comparison with 1930s' aggressive anti-clericalism was too much.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11703708
 
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I saw some live coverages the last two days, unlike friendly John Paul II, Pope Benedict was a bit stiff and cold, he didn't notice the existence of the women (Letizia or Sofia) at all. Even Sofia didn't look comfortable at the audience. His speech on the comparison with 1930s' aggressive anti-clericalism was too much.

BBC News - Pope Benedict XVI sees 'aggressive secularism' in Spain


Pope John Paul II was relatively young when he was elected Pope,his approach was more youthful & he was unique .The present Pope is in his eighties & is very old school & I've also read he's quite shy,which sometimes can be mistaken for cold !

I agree the Princess looked very 'awkward' on Saturday .
 
I saw some live coverages the last two days, unlike friendly John Paul II, Pope Benedict was a bit stiff and cold, he didn't notice the existence of the women (Letizia or Sofia) at all. Even Sofia didn't look comfortable at the audience. His speech on the comparison with 1930s' aggressive anti-clericalism was too much.

BBC News - Pope Benedict XVI sees 'aggressive secularism' in Spain

true, but JPII was unique due to his long reign (many people cant remember any other pope before him) and his ability as "fisher of men".
Ratzinger is much older and much more conservative, a spiritual minded person on a different intellectual level.

whatever, Sofia in any case is more professional or a much better actress than her D-I-L, would never give such a revealing look to JC while Letizia needs to make clear to Felipe that she is not enjoying herself.
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Pope+Benedict+XVI+Visits+Santiago+de+Compostela+nbBQ_EbxCzdl.jpg
 
I was slightly disappointed that neither of the King's sisters were present at the Papal Mass,they might even have worn a mantilla !
 
true, but JPII was unique due to his long reign (many people cant remember any other pope before him) and his ability as "fisher of men".
Ratzinger is much older and much more conservative, a spiritual minded person on a different intellectual level.

whatever, Sofia in any case is more professional or a much better actress than her D-I-L, would never give such a revealing look to JC while Letizia needs to make clear to Felipe that she is not enjoying herself.
http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Pope+Benedict+XVI+Visits+Santiago+de+Compostela+nbBQ_EbxCzdl.jpg

Agree. She really wasn't happy to be taking part either day, and I don't think it had anything to do with her being tired from all the events she attended the previous week.
 
Agree. She really wasn't happy to be taking part either day, and I don't think it had anything to do with her being tired from all the events she attended the previous week.

You cannot expect her to have the same reaction as when she is meeting children. This is a rather solemn occasion. BTW, I was in an audience with Pope Paul II. It was a truly memorable experience. I was in awe and I felt something that I had never felt before.
 
You cannot expect her to have the same reaction as when she is meeting children. This is a rather solemn occasion. BTW, I was in an audience with Pope Paul II. It was a truly memorable experience. I was in awe and I felt something that I had never felt before.

I don't expect her to have the same reaction to the pope as she would with children:flowers: My feeling, and it's just that, MY feeling, is that she would have preferred to be anywhere other than where she was.
 
For me she just looked tired. No wonder seing her involved in so many official duties within the last weeks/months. It would not surprise me when she exhausted.

I am always amazed that a royal job is considered exhausting or stressful. Unlike "normal" people, royals dont work for a living, they do none of the things that usually fill peoples everyday lifes: they dont clean, cook, drive, queue up at the shops, they have everything they wish at their dispose and people around them who organise their life, even do their office work or write their speeches, not to forget the life-in nannies who look after the children when they are not at home. Given a day has approx 12 working hours, it should give enough time to be prepared for the average of 2-4 events they do per week, and very often these events are either in the morning, afternoon or evening, full day events are rare, visits abroad even more rare.

I know a lot of people who have stressful jobs because they either have full working hours or work physically hard or both, but I wouldnt apply this to any royal. I can accept that being under scrutiny and the full attention of the media might be stressful but this is what royals are there for and get quite a few privileges in return, not to forget that they have total privacy when they are at home.

No excuse for looking tired or exhausted during royal events, really.
 
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