AUDIENCE: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FATHER OF JESUS IN NAZARETH

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 1999 (VIS) - "The experience of the Father of Jesus in Nazareth" was the theme of John Paul II's catechesis during the general audience held this morning in St. Peter's Square.

"In his trinitarian mystery," the Pope told the 23,000 pilgrims present, "God is Father through essence, the eternal Father, in that He generates the Word who is consubstantial with Him, and united to Him in the Holy Spirit."

The Pope explained that "on the basis of this specific revelation of the Father, there is the experience of Jesus. By his words and attitudes, it is evident that he experiences a special relationship with the Father."

"The relationship between Jesus and the Father is unique. ... Jesus can present himself as He who reveals the Father, with knowledge which is the fruit of an intimate and mysterious reciprocity." The Father calls Jesus his "Beloved Son" and the Son "expresses affectionate tenderness" towards the Father by calling him "Abba."

The Holy Father said that the term "'Abba' shows the extraordinary closeness between Jesus and God the Father, an unprecedented intimacy in the religious biblical context or outside the biblical context. ... This simple expression of childlike language ... has taken on a deeply relevant doctrinal meaning to express the singular divine fatherhood in relation to Jesus and his disciples."

"Recognizing Jesus before men," he concluded, "is essential to be recognized by Him before the Father. In other words, our relationship as children of the Heavenly Father depends on our courageous fidelity to Jesus, his beloved Son."

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POPE TO BEATIFY TEN SERVANTS OF GOD ON SUNDAY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 1999 (VIS) - On Sunday March 7 at 9:30 a.m., John Paul II will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and will proclaim ten Servants of God as Blesseds.

The names of the future Blesseds are: Vicente Soler and six companions from the Order of the Augustinian Recollects and Manuel Martin Sierra, priest, who were martyrs; Nicolas Barre of the Minim Fathers, priest, and founder of the Congregations of the Sisters of the Child Jesus (Saint Maur) and of the Sisters of the Child Jesus of Providence of Rouen; and Anna Schaeffer, lay woman.

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LETTER TO U.S. BISHOPS' COMMITTEE FOR PRO-LIFE ACTIVITIES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was a letter from Pope John Paul to Cardinal William Henry Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore and chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, on the occasion of the February meeting in Washington, jointly organized by this committee and by the Pontifical Council for the Family. The Pope's letter was dated February 20.

"At the end of the 20th century," the Holy Father affirms, "we are witnessing a strange paradox: the sanctity of life is being denied by an appeal to freedom, democracy, pluralism, even reason and compassion. As the bishops' statement points out, words have become unmoored from their meaning, and we are left with a rhetoric in which the language of life is used to promote the culture of death. Freedom is sundered from truth and democracy from the moral values required for its survival. ... The language of human rights is constantly invoked while the most basic of them - the right to life - is repeatedly disregarded."

"So great is the confusion at times that for many people the difference between good and evil is determined by the opinion of the majority."

"At such a time, Christians must act," stresses the Pope. "This is not easy in a situation where there is at times deliberate falsification of the Church's teaching and scorn for those who promote it. ... Your action needs to be both educational and political. There must be a thorough catechesis on the Gospel of Life ... (which) needs to challenge the prevailing culture at those points where human dignity and rights are threatened."

"This educational effort will increasingly open the way for Catholics to exercise a positive public influence as citizens of their country, without false appeals to the separation of Church and State in a way that consigns the Christian vision of human dignity to the realm of private belief. The choice is favor of life is not a private option but a basic demand of a just and moral society."

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POPE APPLAUDS PEACE PROPOSALS FOR ETHIOPIA-ERITREA DISPUTE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 1999 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience held in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul stated: "Following the sad news of intense bloody conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea in recent days, it has been learned that these two countries are expected to adhere to the peace proposals put forward by the Organization of African Unity.

He concluded: "I commend this wise decision, which I accompany with fervent prayer. This is the only way to put an end to fratricidal strife, to give people peace in their hearts and to promote a new style of government and co-existence on the African Continent."

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AUDIENCE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, archbishop of Paris.

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HOLY SEE ADDRESSES COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was the March 1 statement at the United Nations by Ellen Lukas of the Holy See delegation to the 43rd annual session of the Committee on the Status of Women. She focused on the "two critical areas of concern from the (1995) Beijing Platform of Action being studied: ... Women and Health and Institutional Mechanisms to Advance Women."

On the first topic, she pointed to the Church's "long history of involvement in women's health care" as well as its extensive worldwide network of educational and health care facilities. She highlighted how, at the Beijing conference on women, the Holy See was troubled that "the Plan of Action emphasized reproductive health to the detriment of other very pressing health problems suffered by women and girls. This is generally recognized as decimating the female population of developing countries." She cited the illnesses and diseases which kill tens of millions in developing countries alone each year.

Lukas re-affirmed the Holy See's support for: a woman's right to a healthy pregnancy, adequate health care, "serious efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality" and "initiatives to protect women from violence and abuse." She also re-stated the Church's approval of "the Natural Family Planning method, which is highly effective when used properly."

On the topic of Institutional Mechanisms to Advance Women, the Holy See delegate declared; "The Holy See gives this enterprise its support as long as governments establishing these mechanisms do not allow themselves to become captives of groups advancing a too-narrow view of women's interests, ... do not exclude the concerns of aged or other women who can no longer contribute to the economy, ... and work to advance a woman's true good and dignity."

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ACADEMY PLENARY STARTS TODAY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 3, 1999 (VIS) - The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences opened its fifth plenary session today in the Vatican on the theme "Towards Reducing Unemployment." Participants include 24 members of the academy, four members of the Council of the Foundation for the Development of Social Sciences and eight expert professors.

Today's meeting began at 9 a.m. with an address by academy President Edmund Malinvaud of France and an introduction by academician Margaret Archer of the University of Warwick on "Unemployment: Social Needs and Economic Tendencies. Scenarios for their Ethical Reconciliation."

Some of the other topics to be discussed in the four-day meeting, which includes an audience with the Holy Father, are: "The Universal Basic Income: its contribution to reducing unemployment and relationship to Social Teaching on the 'family wage'"; "Ways and Means of Integrating the Young and Unskilled into Work"; "The Changing Meaning and Value of Work in a Globalized Information Society"; "The Changing Meaning of Work (secularized versus Humanistic) and Its Implications for the 'new' Society" and "The Spiritualist of Work in the Asian Context."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Erected the diocese of Caraguatatuba (area 2,121, population 210,000, Catholics 175,000, priests 14, religious 45),Brazil, with territory taken from the diocese of Santos, making it suffragan to the Metropolitan Church of Sao Paulo. He appointed Fr. Fernando Mason O.F.M.Conv., as first bishop of Caraguatatuba. The bishop-elect was born in Loreggia, Italy, in 1945, was ordained a priest in 1971, and since 1997 has been coordinator of the provincial commission for formation.

- Appointed Fr. Adriano Ciocca Vasino as bishop of Floresta (area 18,210, population 238,955, Catholics 228,000, priests 14, religious 21 ), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Borgosesia, Italy, in 1949, was ordained a priest in 1974, and since 1998 has been coordinator of pastoral ministry in the diocese of Floresta.

- Appointed Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, apostolic nuncio in Turkey and Turkmenistan, as apostolic nuncio in Belgium and Luxembourg.

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