POPE ADDRESSES PLENARY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 1999 (VIS) - The members, consultors, experts and staff of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications were received by the Holy Father this morning, on the occasion of their plenary assembly.

In his speech to them he recalled that 1999 marks two anniversaries for the council: the 35th anniversary of the document "In Fructibus Multis," which he called "a founding document" of the council because it answered a specific request of Vatican Council II Fathers for the establishment of as special commission for social communications, and the 25th year of one of the "council's best known initiatives, the telecast of the Christmas Midnight Mass from St. Peter's Basilica, now one of the most widely followed religious programs in the world."

"The close and positive cooperation between the Church and the media," the Pope observed, "will doubtless be taking a significant step forward in the Year 2000, as the grace of the Great Jubilee is carried to the four corners of the earth." He thanked the council for its efforts 'to ensure that the celebrations connected with the Jubilee will be broadcast as widely and effectively as possible, and in a way that communicates the Jubilee's message of conversion, hope and joy."

The Holy Father stressed that "a vital aspect of cooperation between the Church and media is the ethical reflection which the Church proposes, without which the world of social communications, potentially so creative, can harbor and spread destructive counter-values. It is heartening to learn that, since the publication of the document 'Ethics in Advertising', a suggestion has come from other people in the media that there be a similar document offering ethical guidance in other areas of communications."

In concluding remarks, the Pope affirmed that "the Church's moral teaching is the fruit of a long tradition of ethical wisdom reaching back to the Lord Jesus Himself. ... I therefore encourage you to pursue your study of the ethical dimension of media culture and of the power of the media over people's lives and over society in general. I urge you to continue to promote effective training of Catholics involved in the media on every continent."

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LENTEN SERMONS TO START TOMORROW IN CURIA

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 1999 (VIS) - The traditional Friday Lenten sermons for the Pope and the Roman Curia will start tomorrow morning at 9 in the Clementine Hall, according to a communique made public yesterday afternoon. Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap., preacher of the papal household, will deliver a homily on the theme "'To ransom a slave, You gave Your Son'. Lent with the Father."

"These Lenten meditations," adds the communique, "propose to highlight the role and the presence of the Father in the paschal mystery, in answer to certain objections of contemporary man and, at the same time they seek to help the ministers of God to realize in their lives the difficult and daily spiritual 'passage' from the world to the Father."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Eugenio de Araujo Sales, archbishop of Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
- Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, archbishop of Dakar, Senegal.
- Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-hsi, bishop of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
- Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, apostolic nuncio in Burundi.
- Archbishop Antonio Cantisani of Catanzaro-Squillace, Italy, on his "ad limina" visit.
- A group of ten prelates from the Italian Episcopal Conference on their "ad limina" visit:
- Archbishop Giuseppe Agostino of Cosenza-Bisignano.
- Archbishop Vittorio Luigi Mondello of Reggio Calabria-Bova.
- Archbishop Andrea Mugione of Crotone-Santa Severina.
- Archbishop Andrea Cassone of Rossano-Cariati.
- Bishop Augusto Lauro of San Marco Argentano-Scalea.
- Bishop Domenico Tarcisio Cortese of Mileto-Nicotera-Tropea.
- Bishop Ercole Lupinacci of Lungro of the Italian-Albanses of continental Italy.
- Bishop Vincenzo Rimedio of Lamezia Terme.
- Bishop Domenico Crusco of Oppido Mamertina-Palmi.
- Bishop Giancarlo Maria Bregantini of Locri-Gerace.

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HOLY SEE DELEGATION TO TRAVEL TO VIETNAM

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 1999 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration at midday today:

"In the context of periodic contacts between the Holy See and the Vietnamese authorities, a Holy See delegation headed by Msgr. Celestino Migliore, under-secretary for Relations with States, will in coming days travel to Ha Noi.

"Among the issues on the agenda for the meetings with government authorities, there is also the possibility of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Vietnam."

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