THE POPE ASKS STUDENTS TO PRAY FOR PEACE IN KOSOVO

VATICAN CITY, APR 29, 1999 (VIS) - This morning John Paul II visited Rome's "Tor Vergata" University where at 11:30 a.m. he held a meeting with students and professors in front of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.

In his speech the Pope indicated that "the humanistic dimension, according to which the individual is seen as the subject and as the goal, constitutes the basis of the educational and cultural function of the university."

"The true humanist, opening himself to divine mystery, finds space for his own freedom, the impulse for an investigation whose goals are truth, beauty and good, the characteristics of irreplaceable educational values that serve true cultural progress."

After having referred to Rome's Citizens' Mission, which is aimed this year at the fields of work and study, he said: "I know that you are working with great generosity in order to promote the pastoral activity of the university, considering it a special path in the Christian cultural project to which the Church in Italy has been dedicating its attention for a number of years."

"The symbol and focus of your pastoral activity," the Pope added, "is the Chapel which is being constructed at the center of the university campus and which you have decided to dedicate to St. Thomas Aquinas."

The Holy Father told the professors and students that the Chapel "is called on to be a driving force behind the Christian animation of culture. ... I thank you for the gift of two ambulances for the humanitarian relief mission for refugees from Kosovo. Your active solidarity with those suffering the consequences of the tragic conflict is united with my fervent desire that the war cease as soon as possible and that the armed conflict give way to dialogue and peace. I ask you to remember these desires in your prayers."

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