Why does the Pope wear white?

b. Why does the Pope wear White?_antoniodapadova 20/04/2010 10:11 Page 1

Why does the

Pope wear white?

CTS Children’s Books

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Contents ‘Viva Il Papa!’ - Long live the Pope! ................................................3 When did Pope Benedict become Pope? ..........................................4 Why does the Pope choose a new name? ..........................................6 Why does the Pope wear white? ........................................................8 Why does the Pope live in Rome? ....................................................10 Why does the Pope wear a special ring? ..........................................12 Why does the Pope carry a big cross and wear a funny hat?

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Does the Pope have anyone to help him? ........................................16 Why can’t a woman be Pope? ..........................................................18 Does the Pope travel a lot? ................................................................20 How does the Pope make people saints? ..........................................22 Text by: Pierpaolo Finaldi Illustrations by: Ettore & Mattia Finaldi Photographs © Stefano Spaziani except Page 5: DOMENICO STINELLIS/AP/Press Association Images, Page 11: © Alinari Archives/CORBIS, Page 17: © Franco Origlia/Getty Images News, Page 21: © ETTORE FERRARI /epa/Corbis, Page 23: © Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis Questions: Special thanks go to Miss Collins and all the children of Year 5 in Holy Cross School, Catford, London.

Why does the Pope wear white?: Published 2010 by the Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road, London SE11 5AY. Tel: 020 7640 0042; Fax: 020 7640 0046; www.cts-online.org.uk. Copyright © 2010 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society.

ISBN: 978 1 86082 673 3 CTS Code CH 25

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‘Viva il Papa!’

- Long Live the Pope! he Pope lives in the Vatican which is in Rome, the

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capital of Italy. In Italy every child calls his Dad, Papa. The

Pope is also called ‘il Papa’ because he is like a Dad for

every Catholic. He cares for all of us, and like every good Dad he doesn’t always say what we want to hear but he tells us what we need to do to be happy.

The Pope says Mass every morning and spends a long time praying every day. He stays close to God and shows us how we can stay close to God as well.

This book was written answering questions asked by the children of Year 5 in Holy Cross School in Catford, South East London while they prepared for the visit of Pope Benedict the XVI to Britain in 2010.

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When did Pope

Benedict become Pope?

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ohn Paul II was a great Pope and looked after the Church for over 25 years. He had travelled to most countries in the world to encourage the Catholics there to be holy. He worked hard

for people in Eastern Europe to be free to worship God and had prayed together with people of every other religion for peace in the world. He died at the grand old age of 85, everybody was very sad but also excited to see who would be chosen to carry on his work.

All the Cardinals in the world gathered together in Rome and in the Sistine chapel they tried to understand who God wanted to lead the Church.

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Each Cardinal wrote the name of the man they thought would be holy and lead all the Catholics in the world towards heaven. Great crowds waited for their decision in St Peter’s square.

When the votes were counted if there was not a clear winner the votes were burned together with

19th April 2005

some damp straw and all the crowds saw black smoke coming from a chimney high above the square.

After only one day most of the Cardinals voted for a man called Joseph Ratzinger. They burned the votes without any straw and white smoke came out. Everybody cheered because this meant that God had given the Church a new leader.

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