Good morning, and thank you for the company. Thank you for coming. I am happy to resume the trips, and this is an emblematic journey. It is also a duty towards a land that has been tormented for so many years. Thank you for accompanying me. I will try to follow the instruction and not shake hands with anyone, but I do not want to stay far away: I will come round to greet you at closer quarters. Many thanks.

[The Pope makes a “tour” of the journalists]

I wish you a good journey. I would just like to... They had said to me that it was the birthday of one of you today, but perhaps it was a mistake... And the second thing I would like to say is that there are absences that are keenly felt, and today the role of “dean” of the press corps has pass from Valentina [Alazraki] to [Philip] Pulella. Valentina’s absence makes me rather sad, because she has accompanied us, the Popes, for 40 or 50 years... But I hope she will be with us on the next journey. And Pulella is our dean for this journey. Thank you!