HOLY FATHER TO INAUGURATE ROME-ARMENIA EXHIBITION

VATICAN CITY, MAR 23, 1999 (VIS) - Tomorrow morning in the Regia Hall, Pope John Paul will inaugurate the "Rome-Armenia Exhibition" in the presence of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians, Karekin I, and Armenian President Robert Kocharian, it was announced this morning during a press conference.

Presiding at the conference to present the exhibit were Archbishop Jorge Maria Mejia, archivist and librarian of Holy Roman Church, and Armenia's ambassador to the Holy See, Armen Sarkissian.

Highlighting the long-standing relations between the Church in Rome and the Church in Armenia and the Armenian people, Archbishop Mejia observed that "an ancient and venerable Church which has inspired and continues to inspire an intense and many-faceted cultural life in a number of milieux of human knowledge and activity, will become even more present and better known and appreciated by the many visitors who are expected." He added that "the importance which the Holy See gives to this exhibition is underlined by the presence of the Holy Father at the solemn opening tomorrow."

Ambassador Sarkissian stated that "the Rome-Armenia exhibition in the magnificent Sistine Hall of the Vatican displays as never before the great historical and cultural relationship between these two ancient civilizations which stretches back nearly 2,000 years and is now enjoying a renaissance following the return to the world community of an independent Armenia."

"Key to its unique identity," added the ambassador, "has been Armenia's unswerving adherence to Christianity." In 301 A.D., Armenia adopted Christianity as the state religion, he said, adding that "this act of self-determination ... made Armenia the first country in the world to declare Christianity as its state religion. ... Its faith in the values and principles of Christ has reinforced its support for the fundamental ideas of freedom, human dignity and the self-determination of free people."

The exhibit, he remarked, "will help to create an atmosphere of greater understanding and cooperation which, I am convinced, is the way to a better world of peace, harmony and goodwill among peoples in the Third Christian Millennium."

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MILLENNIUM OF BIRTH OF ST. JOHN GUALBERTO

VATICAN CITY, MAR 23, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was a letter from the Pope to Dom Lorenzo Russo, general abbot of the Benedictine Congregation of Vallombrosa, central Italy, on the millennium of the birth of their founder, St. John Gualberto.

John Paul II writes that St. John Gualberto "was chosen by God so that in a difficult moment for the history of the Church, in a period of profound transformation which was shaking the world of religious orders, he contributed to reawaken the desire of a Christian monastic life without compromise."

"Your founder's example should inspire you to commit yourselves to the task of spreading the spirituality of communion, first of all in your monastic family and then in the ecclesial community and beyond its boundaries."

The Holy Father expresses the hope that the millennium might intensify in the monks their following of Christ and, according to the saint's example, that their monasteries "might become ever more 'houses of God'."

"I wish to repeat," he concludes, "what I wrote in the Post-Synodal Exhortation 'Vita Consacrata': 'The Church ... wishes to hold up before the world the example of communities in which solitude is overcome through concern for one another, in which communication inspires in everyone a sense of shared responsibility, and in which wounds are healed through forgiveness, and each person's commitment to communion is strengthened.' May your father and founder's exhortation remain engraved on your hearts: inviolably safeguard charity!"

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PAPAL CHARITIES DISTRIBUTED $21.5 MILLION IN 1998

VATICAN CITY, MAR 23, 1999 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," the Holy See office responsible for organizing, collecting and distributing financial assistance to the needy in the Pope's name, said in its just-released report for 1998, that this aid last year totalled $21.5 million.

These monies, said the detailed report, were earmarked "to ease the suffering in countries struck by calamities, to sustain programs of ecclesial works for the human and Christian promotion of persons and communities in developing countries and to revitalize the theological virtue of charity through spiritual and corporal works of mercy."

Cor Unum held its plenary assembly in November 1998 on the theme "Towards the Great Jubilee - 1999: Father of Love." The council had decided earlier that its priority during this final year of immediate preparation for the 2000 Jubilee would be to accent the virtue of charity, and to this end has focussed its work on four initiatives.

The first initiative, called "The 100 Projects of the Holy Father," was extended to include 223 projects on all continents, for which a total of $20 million was raised. The second initiative, "Panis caritatis," was launched within Italy to sensitize people to the problems of poverty and hunger, through the sale of specially-shaped loaves of bread, a part of whose sale is given to a papal charity. So far $300,000 has been raised.

The last two council initiatives are, respectively, the publication of the Holy Father's 1999 Lenten Message and the organization of the May 12-15 International Congress on Charity in Rome.

About $1 million in aid was given to other Cor Unum projects, not listed above, including assistance to refugees and to victims of drought, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and floods. It also includes monies for "human and Christian promotion" in the fields of liturgy, education, youth formation, medicine, aid to migrants, assistance for the ill and handicapped and to families in difficulty.

"Such aid was possible," the account underlines, "thanks to the generous collaboration of dioceses, religious congregations, aid organizations, volunteer associations and movements and individuals from every part of the world who, in communion with the Holy Father, ... have given concrete witness to the God the Father's love for mankind."

The Cor Unum report highlighted the "dramatic consequences" caused last year by Hurricane Mitch in four countries of Central America - Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. It recalled that John Paul II had sent council president, Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, as his envoy in solidarity with a check for $170,000 to assist those in need. The report added that "the response of solidarity and sharing by Catholics was remarkable. In barely two weeks the aid sent by Caritas Spain, the coordinating center, had reached the considerable sum of $50 million."

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