CHRIST BRINGS ENERGY, LIGHT, STRENGTH TO DIFFICULT WORLD

VATICAN CITY, JAN 14, 1999 (VIS) - Today, at the end of their four-day meeting, the Holy Father welcomed the participants in the symposium organized by the Pontifical Council for Culture, on the theme "Christ, Source of a New Culture for Europe, on the Threshold of the Third Millennium." The meeting was promoted in preparation for the second assembly for Europe of the Synod of Bishops.

Remarking on Europe's two millennia of Christian culture, the Pope told the participants that they are "today witnesses to a cultural change which, throughout this century, has shaken Europe to its foundations, and to the desire to deepen the meaning of life, legitimately manifested by our contemporaries. The meeting between culture and faith is an exigency of the search for truth."

In seeking the truth, he went on, people will, "with the help of grace, encounter He Who is their Creator and Savior. ... Christ reveals man to himself in his fullness as a child of God, in his inalienable dignity as a person, in the greatness of his intelligence, capable of reaching the truth, and in his will, capable of acting well."

John Paul II pointed out that "borders among States have been opened; new barriers should not be erected among people nor new enmities arise among peoples, because of ideologies. The search for truth must be the driving force behind every cultural process and of fraternal relations within the heart of the continent. ... Our contemporaries must be given a true education based on basic spiritual, moral and civic values."

"In a world where difficulties are numerous," concluded the Pope, "Christ's message reveals an infinite horizon and brings incomparable energy, light for intelligence, strength for the will, love for the heart."

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MAY OUTER ORDER REFLECT HARMONIOUS INNER ORDER

VATICAN CITY, JAN 14, 1999 (VIS) - The Pope today received supervisors, officials and officers from the Italian Public Security Inspectorate to the Vatican, to whom he expressed his appreciation for the "good work which ... (you) do with a great sense of responsibility."

"My hope is that external order, which you maintain with attentive vigilance, will be the image of harmonious inner order: an order in thoughts, choices and beliefs; an order in direction in life, human ideals, moral and religious commitment, especially in view of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, which requires intense spiritual preparation."

John Paul II said that many pilgrims and tourists will come to Rome during the Jubilee. It will be necessary "to assure them safety and protection ... in collaboration with other security forces at the service of citizens, especially on the occasion of important celebrations scheduled for the basilica and for St. Peter's Square. ... I know that you are suitably organizing yourselves according to the demands of the Holy Year, making a concerted effort with technical means and human resources. For all this, I am deeply grateful."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JAN 14, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Archbishop Louis-Marie Bille of Lyon, France, accompanied by Bishop Jacques David of Evreux, and Msgr. Bernard Lagoutte, respectively president, vice-president and secretary general of the Conference of Bishops of France.
- Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, apostolic nuncio in Jordan and Iraq.

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NOTE CONCERNING HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE DECLARATION

VATICAN CITY, JAN 14, 1999 (VIS) - Some media sources have stressed a presumed interest on the part of the Vatican in the exhibit of an archeological find located in the Lake of Genesareth. The Holy See Press Office yesterday communicated that the Vatican knew nothing of this affair and that therefore there had been no form of negotiation in this regard.

On the other hand, on totally different issues, the possibility was studied of organizing some form of exchange between the Museum of Israel in Jerusalem and the Vatican Museums, without a conclusion having been reached.

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