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Pope consecrates Antoni Gaudi's master-work church

© Flickr / SlapBcnPope Benedict XVI consecrated the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona.
Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona. - Sputnik International
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Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, an architectural masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi, Vatican Radio reported.

Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, an architectural masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi, Vatican Radio reported.

"Speaking in Catalan he described his immense joy at being able to consecrate the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, a place where art meets faith. Both this masterpiece and my visit to an important charitable institution of the church," Vatican Radio reported on its website citing the Pope, "are two symbols of the fruitfulness of faith."

The Pope also proclaimed the church a basilica.

Antoni Gaudi was a man who "as a practicing Christian had kept the torch of his faith alight to the end of his life," the Pope said about the architect adding that Gaudi made "stones, trees and human life part of the church so that all creation might come together in praise of God."

During the visit to Spain the Pope visited "two great cities, two extraordinary Papal Masses, complete with the consecration of a Basilica and a visit to a centre for disabilities," the radio said.

The Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction since 1882, is one of the main tourist attractions in Barcelona and in the whole Spain.

MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti)

 

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