Catholic University Students unveil Pope Benedict's chair

Four Catholic University architecture students today helped unveil the chair they designed for Pope Benedict XVI, which he will sit on during his address to U.S. Catholic educators:

“The role of a chair in the Church and in the experience of a pope is very important,” said the university’s president, Very Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., speaking to the crowd gathered on Friday in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center for the unveiling. The Latin term "ex cathedra," Father O'Connell noted, literally means "from the chair," and is often synonymous with important papal pronouncements. “Pope Benedict XVI is going to speak not only to those gathered here but to all Catholics in our country — and he does so from this chair,” said Father O'Connell.

The four CUA students who designed the chair are: Siobhan Steen, of Paris, France, Javid Farazad of Bethesda, Md., Doug Pettit of North Branford, Conn., and Christopher Fullam of Reading, Pa. Steen, Farazad and Fullam are undergraduates in the School of Architecture and Planning. Pettit is a candidate in the school’s master’s program. ... (More)

(Via Catholic University of America Office of Public Affairs).