FOURTH GENERAL CONGREGATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 4, 1999 (VIS) - This morning at 9 a.m. in the Synod Hall, Cardinal Paul Poupard, the president delegate on duty, convened the Fourth General Congregation, in the presence of the Pope and 168 synod fathers. This session of the special assembly for Europe ended at 12.30.

Cardinal Schotte, on the occasion of today's feast of St. Francis, expressed the best wishes of the synod participants to 10 of the synod fathers who share the name of the saint from Assisi.

Following are selections from some of the talks given this morning:

BISHOP JAVIER ECHEVARRIA RODRIGUEZ, PRELATE OF THE PERSONAL PRELATURE OF OPUS DEI. "Church unity requires that the bonds of communion be evident; that is to say, profession of the same faith, common celebration of the sacraments and apostolic succession by means of the Sacrament of Orders. Clear unity, with no shadows, within every local Church, between local Churches and between all of them and the Church of Rome, attracts people of good will and promotes ever more intense unity. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true, and this fact must increase our sense of responsibility. The Church's sanctity must show itself in her decisive desire to combat personal sin and its consequences, at an individual and social level. The help of the faithful in this task is of great pastoral importance."
ARCHBISHOP FERNAND FRANCK OF LUXEMBOURG. "Emigration within the context of globalization. Because of globalization, Europe constitutes one of the planet's great poles of attraction. The continent must resist the temptation to close in on itself and it must take full responsibility for its own history, proposing true collaboration with less fortunate countries. ... The presence of immigrants as an opportunity for Catholicism. Immigrants entreat that our fellows, created in God's image, be recognized as brothers and sisters, similar and at the same time different. They also demand the defense of dignity and of all people's inalienable rights. ... Emigrants are full members of the Church in the country that welcomes them. To operate within the diversity of languages and traditions of believers and pastoral care workers, is the challenge that constantly faces the Church."

CARDINAL ADRIANUS JOHANNES SIMONIS, ARCHBISHOP OF UTRECHT. "Humanity is contemporaneously living with many different 'truths' - a consequence of the pretention it has to absolutely dominate reality - but it no longer recognizes truth. We have the presumption that we can decide what is and is not possible. The relationship with Mystery as the basis of reality has been broken. Consequently, given that reality and man's nature are incomprehensible, the world has become a kind of game and the State seems to represent the only, though stifling, protection for society. Today the Church is a minority. There are only few who know who Christ is and how to find Him. Even the Church is influenced by the dominating mentality, with the consequent risk of reducing the Gospel to a mere repetition of words or moral appeals which, nonetheless, do not give the necessary responses to a world that lives in confusion."

BISHOP CHRISTO PROYKOV, APOSTOLIC EXARCH FOR CATHOLICS OF THE BYZANTINE-SLAV RITE IN BULGARIA. "We express our gratitude towards the other Churches of Europe which have contributed to the rebirth of spiritual life. Bulgaria has remained a point of stability in the Balkan region because it has not been contaminated by the germ of nationalism. In the Balkans, the Orthodox Church and Catholic Church come together in Bulgaria. Today we realize that the things which unite us are more numerous than those which divide us because the Christian root of our faith is the same - the root which lies at the foundation of the history of Europe."

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