Pope Attends to a Concert in Castel Gandolfo

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
9 Sep 2010

The Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo hold a concert in honor of Benedict XVI, offered by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

L'Orchestra di Padova e Veneto and the Choir of the Accademia della Voce di Torino, performed the Mozart Requiem Mass, a work which he recalled his childhood to Benedict XVI.

Benedict XVI
"Every time I listen his music I go with the memory to my parish church where, when I was a boy, on the feast sounded a Mozart' Mass".

The pope also used this music to reflect on death, a recurring theme in the work of Mozart.

To evoke it, Benedict XVI read a paragraph from the last letter that Mozart wrote to his father in 1787.

Benedict XVI
"For several years I have entered into such familiarity with this sincere and dear friend of manhood, so his image for me is not anymore anything terrible, but instead comes to me very reassuring and comforting."

Pope said that in the music of Mozart it can be perceived a glimmer of the beauty of Heaven, which gives hope to the suffering and death. An unforgettable concert of Benedict XVI's favorite composer.