POPE ASKS CHURCH TO DEDICATE MAY TO PRAYERS FOR WORLD PEACE

VATICAN CITY, MAY 2, 1999 (VIS) - Pope John Paul, after the Mass and beatification of Padre Pio in St. Peter's Square, travelled by helicopter to St. John Lateran where he greeted the faithful from the central loggia, which was draped in an enormous tapestry bearing the image of the new Blessed.

Before reciting the Regina Coeli prayer, the Pope spoke of Padre Pio who, he said, "through his teaching and his example, invites us to prayer, to recourse to divine mercy through the sacrament of penance and to love for one's neighbor. He especially invites us to love and venerate the Virgin Mary. His devotion to Our Lady could be seen in every work of his life: In his words and writings, in his teaching and in the advice he gave to his many spiritual sons and daughters."

The Holy Father then asked for prayers for those regions of the world which are suffering conflicts, in particular Yugoslavia and parts of Africa.

"With deep sorrow and concern my thoughts today return to neighboring Yugoslavia and I affectionately embrace all there who are crying, suffering and dying. I again raise my voice to plea - in the name of God - for an end to man's abuse of man, for an end to the instruments of destruction and death and for the mobilization of every possible channel of assistance for those forced to leave their homeland in the midst of indescribable atrocities. May dialogue be resumed, with that intelligence and creativity that God has bestowed on man, in order to resolve tensions and conflicts and to build a society based on the dutiful respect towards every human person.

"With all my strength I invite you, dear brothers and sisters, to pray intensely during this month of May to beseech Our Lady for the gift of peace in the Balkans and in the too many places in the world where violence reigns, fomented by prejudices and hatred towards those who have different ethnic origins, religious convictions and political ideas. My thoughts go not only to the Balkans but to Africa, the continent which is at this moment bloodied by the greatest number of wars, struggles for power, ethnic conflicts and indifference are slowly suffocating it.

He concluded with a plea for all dioceses to devote the month of May to prayers "so that in the Balkans, in Africa and in every corner of the globe builders of peace might flourish, (who will) forget their special interests and become ready to work for the common good."

ANG;PADRE PIO; YUGOSLAVIA;...;ST JOHN LATERAN;VIS;19990503;Word: 430;