GREETINGS AT THE END OF THE GENERAL AUDIENCE

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 1999 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, the pilgrims present were greeted in their various languages by John Paul II.

"In Slovakia on Monday you celebrated Saints Cyril and Methodius, your evangelizers," he told a group of Slovak pilgrims. "Pray for yourselves and for your nation, that it may remain faithful to the Christian heritage of your fathers."

After greetings in Italian to young people, the sick and the recently married, the Pope blessed "with affection, the altar boys who, in this period, are assisting the priests in St. Peter's basilica."

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