CARDINAL ETCHEGARAY SPEAKS ON THE CHURCH IN POLAND

VATICAN CITY, FEB 4, 1999 (VIS) - Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Central Committee of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, gave a speech yesterday in Warsaw, Poland, on the Church in this country and in Central and Eastern Europe.

Cardinal Etchegaray was participating in the colloquium on "The Universal Church and the Polish Church on the Vigil of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000," organized by the Polish national committee and the Polish Catholic news service, KAI.

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HOLY SEE, ISRAEL SIGN LEGAL PERSONALITY AGREEMENT

VATICAN CITY, FEB 4, 1999 (VIS) - "Yesterday, February 3, in the office of Israel's Foreign Affairs minister, a ceremony took place for the exchange of ratification documents of the 'Legal Personality Agreement', signed in the same office between the Holy See and Israel on November 10, 1997," said Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls today.

"The new Agreement, developed from what was already envisioned by the 'Fundamental Agreement' of December 30 1993, ratifies the full recognition with full civil effects, in the milieu of Israeli legislation, of moral and legal persons where they are constituted by the authorities of the Catholic Church, according to Canon Law, and working in that milieu.

"The Holy See delegation was led by Msgr. Celestino Migliore, under-secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, and the Israeli one led by Eytan Bentsur, director general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry."

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MEETING IN U.S. OF DOCTRINAL COMMISSIONS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 4, 1999 (VIS) - A delegation from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, will be in San Francisco, U.S.A., from February 9 to 12 for a meeting with the presidents of the doctrinal commissions of North America and Oceania.

According to a communique released today, Cardinal Ratzinger will be joined by Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary, and three congregation officials. The San Francisco meeting follows similar encounters in Bogota in 1984, Kinshasa 1987, Vienna 1989, Hong Kong 1993 and Guadalajara 1996.

"The aim of the meeting," adds the communique, "is above all to become better acquainted with the realities of the religious situation in North America and in Oceania and to reflect in this regard with local bishops. It is also hoped to further promote the functioning of the doctrinal commissions of the episcopal conferences, as well as their regular and systematic collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the light of the circular on doctrinal commissions of November 25, 1990 and the Motu proprio 'Apostolos Suos'."

The agenda includes the following addresses: Cardinal Ratzinger on "Subjectivism, Christology and the Church," Archbishop Bertone on the Church's Magisterium and the "Professio fidei" and a talk by the head of the congregations's section on collaboration between this dicastery and the doctrinal commissions of the episcopal conferences.

Bishops from North America and Oceania will speak on three topics: the figure of the theologian in a Catholic university in the light of the Motu proprio "Ad tuendam fidem," the question of feminism and the question of homosexuality.

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