Vatican City, December 21, 2008. After praying the Angelus with the pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI gave a special greeting to the 49 Legionaries of Christ who were ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Angelo Sodano on December 20 in the basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.  A photo gallery of the ordinations can be viewed at this link.
The Pope’s words of greeting are reprinted here (taken from Zenit):
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This Sunday´s Gospel presents to us once again the account of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), the mystery to which we return every day in reciting the Angelus. This prayer allows us to relive the decisive moment when God knocked at Mary´s heart and, having received her "yes," began to take flesh in her and from her. The collect prayer of today´s Mass is the same prayer that is recited at the end of the Angelus: "Lord, fill our hearts with your love, and as you revealed to us by an angel the coming of your Son as man, so lead through his suffering and death to the glory of his resurrection." With the feast of Christmas just a few days away, we are invited to fix our gaze upon the ineffable mystery that Mary carried for nine months in her virginal womb: the mystery of God who becomes man. This is the first hinge of Redemption. The second is Jesus´ death and resurrection, and these two inseparable hinges manifest a single divine plan: to save humanity and its history, assuming it to the very end by completely taking on all the evil that oppresses it.

Beyond the historical dimension of this mystery of salvation, there is a cosmic dimension: Christ is the sun of grace who, with his light, "transfigures and inflames the universe with expectation" (Liturgy). The time of the Christmas feast is linked with the winter solstice, when the days of the northern hemisphere begin to get longer again. In this connection, perhaps not many people know that St. Peter´s Square is a meridian: the great obelisk, in fact, casts its shadow upon a line that runs along the pavement toward the fountain below this window, and in these days the shadow is the longest of the year. This reminds us of the function of astronomy in marking the times of prayer. The Angelus, for example, is recited in the morning, at noon and in the evening. The meridian, which in the past served for helping one to know " true noon," was the standard for clocks.

The fact that the winter solstice occurs precisely today, Dec. 21, at this exact hour, gives me the opportunity to greet all those who are participating in various ways in the events of the International Year of Astronomy, 2009, marking the 4th centenary of Galileo Galilee´s first observations with his telescope. There have been practitioners of this science among my predecessors of venerable memory, such as Sylvester II, who taught it, Gregory XIII, to whom we owe our calendar, and St. Pius X, who knew how to build solar clocks. If the heavens, according to the beautiful words of the psalmist, " narrate the glory of God" (Psalm 19 [18], 2), even the laws of nature, which in the course of centuries many men and women of science have helped us to understand better, are a great stimulus to contemplating the works of the Lord with gratitude.

Let us return now to contemplating of Mary and Jesus, who await the birth of Jesus, and learn from them the secret of recollection for tasting the joy of Christmas. Let us prepare to welcome with faith the Redeemer who comes to be with us, the Word of God´s love for humanity of every age.

[In Italian, he added:]
I am happy to greet the [49] new priests of the Legionaries of Christ, who received ordination at the hands of Cardinal Angelo Sodano yesterday at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. Dear friends, may the love of Christ that moved St. Paul in his mission always animate your ministry. I bless you and your loved ones from my heart!

*****

The vocation stories and photos of the new priests are gathered in the book Vivir Para Cristo (Live for Christ), with each story in its original language and in Spanish. The vocation stories in English can be viewed online at this link.