GENERAL AUDIENCE: POPE'S MULTI-LINGUAL GREETINGS TO PILGRIMS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 20, 1999 (VIS) - In his multi-lingual greetings to pilgrims in attendance at today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul had words for ecumenical groups, spoke of the just-celebrated 21st anniversary of his election and highlighted the recently restored facade of St. Peter's Basilica.

"I extend a special welcome to the members of the Syriac Commission of the Foundation 'Pro Oriente'," he said in English, "and I thank you for your dedication to the task of promoting relations with the ancient Churches of the East. I am happy today to greet the various ecumenical groups present."

Then, in Portuguese, he addressed the "beloved pilgrims from Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries. I welcome you, with a 'thank you' for all the times that you have remembered, through prayer, the intentions of my ministry as the Successor of Peter, which has now concluded 21 years. May God bless you and bestow upon you and your families an abundance of blessings from heaven!"

The Holy Father also greeted a group of Slovak pilgrims in their language: "Dear brothers and sisters, in the first letter of St. Peter, we read: 'Like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house'. In front of you is the basilica of St. Peter's, with its restored facade. Our pleasure in front of this masterpiece cannot be only aesthetic in nature, but should open itself to the inner fascination of the spiritual reality that it signifies."

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