IF YOU WANT PEACE, SEEK JUSTICE, DEFEND LIFE, EMBRACE THE TRUTH

VATICAN CITY, JAN 27, 1999 (VIS) - At 4:30 p.m., Pope John Paul presided at an evening prayer service with Catholics, the faithful of other Christian denominations, and Jews and Muslims in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, a Romanesque-Byzantine church which houses the world's largest collection of mosaics, 4,000 square meters incorporating 41 million individual pieces.

On "the eve of a new millennium," said the Holy Father in his homily, and "as we look at the century we are leaving behind, we see that ... in order to be able to sing God's praises we must relearn the language of humility and trust, the language of moral integrity and of sincere commitment to all that is truly good in the sight of the Lord."

"At the end of this century, at once marked by unprecedented progress and by a tragic toll of human suffering," he stated, "radical changes in world politics leave America with a heightened responsibility to be for the world an example of a genuinely free, democratic, just and human society."

John Paul II affirmed that "from salvation history we learn that power is responsibility: it is service, not privilege. Its exercise is morally justifiable when it is used for the good of all, when it is sensitive to the needs of the poor and defenseless.

"There is another lesson here: God has given us a moral law to guide us and protect us from falling back into the slavery of sin and falsehood. ... The Ten Commandments are the charter of true freedom, for individuals as well as for society as whole."

He proclaimed that "America will remain a beacon of freedom for the world as long as it stands by those moral truths which are at the very heart of its historical experience. And so America: if you want peace, work for justice. If you want justice, defend life. If you want life, embrace the truth - the truth revealed by God."

At the end of the liturgy, the Holy Father crossed the basilica's central nave and went to the Holy Door, placing a seal on it which will be removed at the opening of the Jubilee Year 2000 celebrations.

Then, prior to leaving the cathedral for St. Louis Airport, John Paul II made concluding remarks of gratitude and appreciation to religious and civil officials, including U.S. Vice President Al Gore: "A few months ago a pilgrimage from St. Louis came to Rome. We met on the steps of St. Peter's where they sang to me 'Meet Me in St. Louis... meet me at the dome!' With God's help, we have done it."

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