Word: viennas
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...pilgrimage, Pope Benedict XVI insisted, not a political outing. The pontiff's just-completed stay in Austria was built around a visit to Mariazell, an 850-year-old shrine to Mary in the foothills of the Alps, just over two hours south of Vienna. And though Benedict used his three-day trip to touch on some familiar hot-button issues both inside and outside his Church - abortion, euthanasia, the so-called "de-Christianization" of Europe - he did so in a context and spirit that matched the humble "just-a-pilgrimage" billing he announced just before takeoff from Rome on Friday...
...with other faithful in this act of unity that such a journey brings." Nevertheless, Austrian Catholics will be looking to their pontiff for words of encouragement as the nation's Church continues to recover from a sex abuse scandal in the 1990s in which the then Archbishop of Vienna Hans Wilhelm Groer was forced to resigned under allegations that he himself had been a perpetrator. Indeed, some will consider the trip a success - even if a quiet one - if Benedict can simply heal old wounds rather than open new ones...
...hopped back just across the Alps on Friday, this time for three days in Austria, which sits just on the border of his native Bavaria. He will again deliver a series of speeches in German, including an address Friday evening to a gathering of international diplomats in Vienna that touched on some hot-button issues facing world leaders. Speaking with a slightly hoarse voice, the Pope delivered something of a wake-up call to Europeans who "need to make their political importance felt" in troubled regions like Darfur and the Middle East, and in the fight against poverty. "Europe...
Nevertheless, as with every trip beyond Italian borders, the three-day trip to Vienna and the Marian shrine of Mariazell, could indeed include surprises. When he's on the road, Benedict often explores delicate themes with the full force of both his intellect and his sure-fire faith, which has gotten him into hot water not only in Regensberg. On his last trip to Brazil, the Pope was making big news before even landing by telling reporters on the Rome-to-Sao Paulo flight that pro-choice politicians were automatically excommunicated. Later, he would speak about the Church's role...
...well as all European countries, the participants would pledge to respect each other's boundaries; they would also discuss a mutual reduction of forces between NATO and the Warsaw Pact nations. The security conference would be, in fact, an updated version of the 19th century Congress of Vienna, in which the nations of Europe and North America would seek to work out new security arrangements, even as the diplomats of Metternich's day sought to put together a new European order following the dislocations of the Napoleonic...