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Council officers are urged to print out copies of this prayer written by Supreme Chaplain Bishop William E. Lori and distribute it to Knights and family members. All Catholics are being asked to pray daily for the Pontiff during his trip.
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The Knights of Columbus will sponsor a “spiritual pilgrimage” with Pope Benedict XVI as he travels to Turkey this week.
Knights, their families, and all Catholics are being asked to pray daily for the Pontiff during the trip, which began on Tuesday/
Knights began praying for the pope’s intentions on Nov. 26 (the Solemnity of Christ the King).
In addition, the Knights of Columbus printed and distributed cards with a special prayer written by the Order’s Supreme Chaplain, Bishop William E. Lori.
Copies of the prayer card were sent to state deputies for distribution, and to bishops and priest-members of the Knights for their use and promotion.
The Order also ran advertisements about the pilgrimage in several U.S. diocesan newspapers. U.S. and Canadian Catholic newspapers with national circulations also printed the advertisement.
Knights and others joining in the Spiritual Pilgrimage are saying the prayer each day during the pope’s trip, which concludes Dec. 1.
The prayer asks that the pope’s visit will bring about “deeper ties of understanding, cooperation, and peace among Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, and those who profess Islam.” And it asks that “Pope Benedict be kept safe from all harm as he prays, bears witness to the Gospel, and invites all peoples to a dialogue of faith, reason, and love.”
“Only a few Catholics can physically travel with the Holy Father to Turkey,” Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said, “but millions of us can be united with him in prayer during his pilgrimage for peace.”
“We ask Our Lady of Fatima to intercede for the pope during this journey,” Anderson continued. “Mary is regarded with special esteem by people of the Islamic faith, and this is especially true under her title Our Lady of Fatima, since Fatima was the name of the prophet Mohammed’s daughter.”
Pope Benedict's trip to Turkey is his fifth foreign trip since his election in April 2005 and his first to a predominantly Muslim country. The pope is visiting Turkey at the invitation of the Turkish government and the Orthodox Church’s Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
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