HOLY FATHER THANKS PAPAL FOUNDATION FOR ANNUAL GIFT

VATICAN CITY, APR 14, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was the Holy Father's written Message which he gave yesterday to the cardinal members and trustees of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation during their audience with him in the Vatican.

The Pope expressed his "gratitude for the support which the Foundation has given again this year to the Successor of Peter in his apostolic ministry of 'concern for all the Churches'."

"In the years since its establishment," the Message says, "the Papal Foundation has demonstrated a particular concern for the needs of the Church in developing countries. I deeply appreciate this commitment of effective solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the world who look in hope to the Church's witness to the Gospel and her efforts to promote justice, reconciliation and fraternal cooperation among the members of the human family."

The Papal Foundation is a multimillion dollar investment fund established to provide a source of steady income for the Holy See. It annually presents the Pope with a check which represents interest earned by the fund.

A fact sheet made public today on the Foundation's grants states that in 1999 it gave $2.450 million to 25 various projects, including $300,000 to the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" to help the victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America, and $135,000 to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications for a new Vatican Film Library. Other grants include aid for the building or renovation of churches, seminaries and hospitals, for the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family and for a shelter for the homeless in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

Since 1990 it has earmarked $12,735,500 for 115 humanitarian and ecclesial projects.

AC;PAPAL FOUNDATION;...;...;VIS;19990414;Word: 290;

HOLY SEE INTERVENTION AT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

VATICAN CITY, APR 14, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello's intervention on April 8 at the 55th session of the Human Rights Commission, currently underway in Geneva, Switzerland. The Holy See permanent observer to the Office of the United Nations and Specialized Institutions in Geneva spoke at the assembly dedicated to economic, social and cultural rights.

Speaking French, the archbishop highlighted the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and said such rights "are no longer considered only as an enunciation of principles, sometimes abstract, but as a concrete aim to achieve. What is more, post-colonialism and socialization have helped peoples to come close together and to make them aware of the injustice that a part of humanity inflicts on the other part." He also remarked how the mass media continues to furnish "upsetting images" of the suffering populations in under-developed areas of the world. "Putting economic and social rights into practice thus remains a dream for the greater part of humanity."

Archbishop Bertello stressed that "the establishment of a just economic and social order is an inescapable condition for the security and prosperity of the human person." He also emphasized a truth which, he said, "is also dear to the Christian social doctrine: all men are members of the same family and must form a true community. If they are equal in their dignity, they are also equal vis-a-vis the means which are necessary to realize their vocation in a relation based on equality, beyond all temptation of domination or paternalism."

He spoke of international debt, "which only drives people deeper into their mass poverty, paralyzing every effort to bring them out of it. ... International cooperation must not be limited to better the material conditions of life of populations, it must also reinforce their social structures."

In conclusion, he stated that "the eradication of poverty will only be achieved when the poor themselves will be able to take their destiny in hand, linking them to the concept and the putting into place of programs which respect their values and traditions."

DELSS;HUMAN RIGHTS; ECONOMY;...;GENEVA; BERTELLO;VIS;19990414;Word: 350;

MULTILINGUAL GREETINGS: POPE CALLS FOR END TO USURY

VATICAN CITY, APR 14, 1999 (VIS) - In his multilingual greetings to pilgrims present today in St. Peter's Square for the weekly general audience, Pope John Paul extended "a special welcome to Cardinal William Keeler and to the American Catholic and Jewish leaders involved in the Interreligious Information Center in Baltimore."

Using their native languages, he spoke of the Easter season and the Resurrection of Christ to the faithful from the Netherlands, Belgium, Lithuania, the Czech and Slovak Republics and Croatia. "I hope," he said in Dutch, "that you can personally experience the love and grace of the Risen Christ in this Easter time, and rediscover your Christian vocation." In Lithuanian he said: "May today's encounter be for everyone a special moment of grace to discover Christ again, the light and hope of the world, and to proclaim him with generous works of fraternal charity."

In Italian, the Holy Father welcomed the members of the National Council of Anti-usury Foundations and their regional delegations "who came to call the public's attention to the worrisome and, unfortunately, widespread phenomenon of usury, which often brings with it dramatic social consequences.

"I know well, dear friends, the difficulties that you face. But I know that you are determined and united in fighting this serious social evil. Continue to combat usury, giving hope to individuals and families who are its victims. The Pope encourages you to pursue your generous work to build a more just society, one of solidarity, and more attentive to the demands of the needy."

AG;EASTER; USURY;...;... ;VIS;19990414;Word: 260;

GIVING WITNESS TO GOD THE FATHER: CHRISTIAN ANSWER TO ATHEISM

VATICAN CITY, APR 14, 1999 (VIS) - In today's Wednesday general audience held in St. Peter's Square, the Pope spoke on "Giving Witness to God the Father: The Christian Answer to Atheism."

"A person's religious orientation," said the Pope, "comes from their condition as a creature, leading them to long for God, who created them in his image and likeness."

Unfortunately, as a consequence of sin, the intimate vital link with God "is lived by the person in a delicate and contradictory way. ... Secularism is seen to be especially destructive, with its indifference to the last things and faith."

The Holy Father said that the Holy Scriptures do not mention "theoretical" atheism, but "are concerned with rejecting 'practical' atheism. ... More than atheism, the Bible speaks of impiety and idolatry. The impious and idolaters are those who, instead of God, prefer things of this world, which are falsely claimed to be divine."

"Atheism," he continued, "can also become a form of intolerant ideology, as history illustrates. The past two centuries have known currents of theoretical atheism which denied God in the name of a claimed absolute autonomy of man, nature or science. ... This systematic atheism has been imposed for decades, offering the illusion that, by eliminating God, the person would be both psychologically and socially freer."

The Pope said that, faced with forms of atheism and its ideological aims, "the Church does not discount the serious study of psychological and sociological factors of the religious phenomenon, but does firmly reject the interpretation of religiosity as a projection of the human psyche or as a result of sociological conditions."

The proclamation of the Gospel and the witness of the true face of God the Father are "the most convincing answer to atheism because it enables one to discover God's goodness and mercy."

AG;GOD FATHER; ATHEISM;...;...;VIS;19990414;Word: 310;

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 14, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Bishop William Delgado Silva, auxiliary of Maracaibo, as first bishop of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia (area 8,100, population 340,000, Catholics 323,000, priests 20, religious 38), Venezuela.

- Bishop Mario Moronto Rodriguez of Los Teques as bishop of San Cristobal de Venezuela (area 11,100, population 867,000, Catholics 838,000, priests 162, religious 387), Venezuela.

NER;...;...;DELGADO; MORONTO;VIS;19990414;Word: 60;

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 14, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received a group of Romanian prelates:
- Archbishop Lucian Muresan, metropolitan of Fagaras and Alba Julia of the Romanians.
- Archbishop Gheorghe Gutiu, bishop of Cluj-Gherla of the Romanians.
- Bishop Ioan Sisestean of Maramures of the Romanians.
- Bishop Alexandru Mesian of Lugoj of the Romanians.
- Bishop Virgil Bercea of Oradea Mare of the Romanians.
- Bishop Florentin Crihalmeanu, auxiliary of Cluj-Gherla of the Romanians.

AP;...;...;...;VIS;19990414;Word: 70;