AUDIENCE: POPE RECALLS HIS APOSTOLIC TRIP TO AMERICA

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 1999 (VIS) - In today's general audience John Paul II recalled his recent apostolic trip to Mexico and the United States during which he closed, at the feet of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Special Assembly for America of the Synod of Bishops.

The American continent received the Gospel five centuries ago, and now "Christian communities of the north, the center, the south and the Caribbean are called to renewal in the faith, to develop an ever greater solidarity. They are invited to collaborate in coordinated pastoral projects."

The Pope asserted that "the Mexicans answered with unmistakable enthusiasm" his call to conversion and to follow Christ. The meeting with representatives from the various generations of this century at Aztec stadium was "an amazing testimony of how faith can unite generations and can respond to the challenges of all stages of life."

"I am overjoyed," he continued, "to have met with a large number of young people in Mexico and the United States. With their enthusiastic participation ... they showed that they wanted to be the protagonists in a new era of courageous testimony, active solidarity and generous commitment at the service of the Gospel."

The Holy Father observed that during his visit "he met American Catholics who were very active and committed to the defense of life and of the family. ... This trip was, in a certain way, a great call for America to welcome the Gospel of life and family, and to repudiate and reject all forms of violence against the person, from the moment of conception until natural death, with intellectual and moral coherence. No to abortion and euthanasia! End the unnecessary recourse to the death penalty! No to racism, and to the exploitation of children, women and indigenous peoples! May there be an end to the arms trade, drug trafficking and the destruction of the environment!"

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