VATICAN CITY (VIS) - A world meeting of clergy will take place in Rome from 9 to 11 June to mark the end of the Year for Priests, called by Benedict XVI to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney, the holy "Cure of Ars".
 
All the priests of the world have been invited to the meeting, which is being promoted by the Congregation for the Clergy and has as its theme: "Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests".
 
The theme of the first day, 9 June, will be "Conversion and Mission". Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, Germany, will preside at a meditation in the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, which will also be relayed to the basilica of St. John Lateran.

This will be followed by a period of Eucharistic adoration during which the Sacrament of Confession will be administered. Later, Cardinal Claudio Hummes O.F.M. and Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, prefect and secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, will preside at Eucharistic celebrations in, respectively, St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls and St. John Lateran.
 
The theme of the second day of the meeting, Thursday 10 June, will be: "The Cenacle: invocation to the Holy Spirit with Mary, in fraternal communion". Cardinal Marc Ouellet P.S.S., archbishop of Quebec, Canada, will preach a meditation in the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, which will likewise be relayed to the basilica of St. John Lateran.

This will again be followed by a period of Eucharistic adoration during which the Sacrament of Confession will be available. Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. and Archbishop Robert Sarah, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples will then preside at Eucharistic celebrations in, respectively, St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls and St. John Lateran.
 
On Thursday evening a vigil will be held in St. Peter's Square. In the course of the event a number of priests will bear witness; there will also be television linkups with Ars, the Cenacle in Jerusalem, and poor neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires and Hollywood, a dialogue between the Pope and the priests, and adoration of the Eucharist.
 
At 10 a.m. on Friday 11 June, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Year for Priests will officially come to an end with a Eucharistic concelebration presided over by the Pope in St. Peter's Square. During the Mass the clergy will renew their vows and the Pope will proclaim the holy "Cure of Ars" as patron saint of all priests.