Pope Benedict XVI will be accompanied by a 29-member group of the Vatican representatives, including Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and people from the International Catholic Centre, as well as up to 70 journalists, the Vatican administration has told CTK.Benedict XVI, 82, and his team will fly to Prague aboard a plane of the Italian Airlines.
He will return to Rome by a Czech special plane.
The Pope's team will also include a personal doctor, his assistant, two interpreters, an official photographer and three experts in liturgical ceremonies.
On the other hand, Benedict XVI never takes a personal cook to his trips abroad as he is not on a special diet, a clerk, from the Vatican administration, told CTK.
The Vatican also confirmed that Benedict XVI would spend two nights in the Czech Republic in the seat of the Vatican diplomatic mission in Prague, Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican state secretariat, told CTK.
Two bulletproof "papa-mobiles" (cars specially adjusted for the Pope) were sent to the Czech Republic two weeks ahead of the visit. A Czech policeman is to drive them.
Hundreds of Czech policemen will protect the Pope during his three-day visit to the Czech Republic on September 26-28.
The security measures are to be as tight as during the April visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Prague.
Among the media representatives to accompany the Pope will be a reporter of the Italian daily L'Osservatore Romano, technicians from the Vatican radio and a photographer from the Vatican TV.
Former Papal Nuncio to Prague Giovanni Coppa will also be in the Pope's delegation.
The Pope will arrive in the Czech Republic on Saturday, September 26. On Sunday morning, September 27, he will celebrate a mass for tens of thousands of pilgrims at the Brno-Turany airport.
On September 28, the day of St Wenceslas, patron Saint of Bohemia, the Pope will celebrate a public mass in Stara Boleslav, central Bohemia, where St Wenceslas died a martyr death in 935.
Czech church and political representatives are preparing various gifts for the Pope that will be presented at a press conference in Brno this afternoon.
The Bohemian and Moravian bishops have ordered a unique rosary for for the Pope. Its rosette will become a pattern for special silver and golden commemorative medals that will be issued on this occasion.
The Pope will pay a visit to the Czech Republic for the first time after 12 years.
The predecessor of Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, visited the Czech Republic in 1995 and 1997, and in 1990 he paid a visit to the former Czechoslovakia.
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SIC: CTK