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Pope to consecrate Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Visit of Pope Benedict XVI on November 7

Pope Benedict XVI will be to be consecrating Antoni Gaudi's architectural masterpiece -- the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona -- during his upcoming visit to Spain, in November.
"I will travel to Barcelona, where I will have the joy of consecrating the marvellous temple of the Sagrada Familia by the genius architect Antoni Gaudi," the pope said at his weekly audience in the Vatican in front of 7,000 pilgrims.
Antoni Gaudí's idiosyncratic masterpiece, a towering mass of surrealistic spires that has been under construction for 44 years will receive the official status of basilica following the consecration and masses can be celebrated there. Currently only the building's crypt has been consecrated by the church.
The pope is set to visit the pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela in northeast Spain on Saturday and then Barcelona on Sunday.
"I will travel as a witness to Christ's resurrection, with the desire to spread his word, which offers the light for living with dignity and the hope for building a better world," Benedict said.- AFP

Published 04.11.2010

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