Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI already has a full slate of meetings, Masses and foreign trips planned for 2011.

Most prominent are the four foreign trips the Vatican has arranged. The Holy Father will visit Croatia in early June, Madrid, Spain, to mark World Youth Day for three days from August 18, Germany from September 22 to 25 and the West African country of Benin for two days in November. He will also make a two-day visit to Venice in May and three other trips in Italy during the year.

Throughout the year, the Holy Father will hold ad limina meetings with bishops from many countries including the US, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Australia, Angola, New Zealand and the Pacific Ocean area.

Easter plans

Easter arrives late in 2011, on April 24, and with it the Pope’s busiest week of the year. Ahead of Easter, the Vatican plans to publish the Holy Father’s new volume in his series on the life of Christ. Titled, Jesus of Nazareth: Part Two, Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection. It picks up where the best-selling first volume left off.

The Pope will also continue his weekly audiences every Wednesday, where he has been sketching brief biographies of early church saints, writers and mystics. He normally makes at least one other public appearance each week, greeting pilgrims from his apartment window at midday on Sundays.

Unlike the past three years, there’s no Synod of Bishops planned for 2011 and there is no sign that the Pope intends to convene the world’s cardinals at the Vatican in the next 12 months.

Liturgies

In 2010, the Holy Father presided over more than 50 major Liturgies. Similar celebrations are already penned into the 2011 calendar, at home and abroad. They range from one-hour prayer services to three-hour ordination Masses and normally include at least two Liturgies to proclaim new saints, one in the spring and one in the autumn. Already on the probable saints list for 2011 is the founder of the Xaverian Missionary Fathers, Blessed Guido Conforti.

Although Pope Benedict is seen as less prolific than Pope John Paul II, his verbal output each year is substantial: about 300 speeches and talks, more than 50 homilies and nearly 100 other missives of varying length and importance.

In a recent interview, Pope Benedict said the day-in, day-out schedule of the papacy was pretty taxing for someone his age. He spoke openly about his diminishing energy, and even left open the possibility of eventual Papal retirement, but his 2011 calendar makes clear he is not at that stage yet.