Pope Benedict Announces a Year of Faith

Pope Benedict processing into this morning's Mass on the mobile platform
that the media seem to be making so much fuss over.

At Mass today (which may be watched in its entirety here) Pope Benedict announced a year of Faith to commence on October 11th 2012, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. It will end on November 24th 2013, Solemnity of Christ the King.

The aim of the year is to give a renewed impulse to the mission of the whole Church to lead men out of the desert in which they often find themselves towards the place of life and friendship with Christ who gives us life in its fullness. The year will be, the Holy Father said, a moment of grace and of commitment to an ever fuller conversion to God, to strengthen our faith in Him and to announce Him with joy to today's humanity.

The month of October is traditionally dedicated to prayer for the missionary activity of the Church. Now, however, the Church turns its attention to those lands which once were Christian but have lost the initial joy of faith in Christ. The New Evangelisation is directed to those lands and peoples that, having been evangelised in the past, now need to be re-evangelised.

The Holy Father will introduce the year with an Apostolic Letter.

See The Vatican Today and the Holy Father's homily (currently only in Italian).

If I'm not mistaken, the bishop on the right with hands joined in the traditional
manner is Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England.