The footage below comes from last November's papal visit to the shrine as part of Benedict 16's journey to Spanish Catholicism's most revered venues, which climaxed the next day with the pontiff's dedication of Barcelona's Basilica of Sagrada Familia, the Gaudì masterpiece still well under construction nine decades
after the architect's death.
B16 Meets Botafumiero on Vimeo.
(Sung during the rite above is the traditional Compostelan hymn to St James: "Holy Leader, Patron of the Spaniards....")
Just around the corner Benedict 16 will take his 20th overseas trip: to Madrid for the triennial global celebration of World Youth Day -- the church's "Olympic event," now all of two weeks away, and expected to draw crowds in excess of a million.
