ESTABLISHING A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK IN THE SERVICE OF GOOD

VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 1999 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II received the participants of a meeting organized by the Italian Consortium of Free Local Radio and Television, gathering to discuss the subject "Identity and Globalization."

The Pope highlighted the great "service that the media can offer in order that the message of salvation reach all."

He went on: "At times the communication (media) run the risk of obscuring - through the intensity of their images and sounds - the void, the poverty of the message and the absence of valid ethical references. Faced with communication of this type, which prefers a passive audience to active protagonists, and to stupefy rather than to aid refection, it is more than ever urgent to offer, with competence and creativity, supplementary motivation and content in order to create a communications network in the service of good."

The Holy Father indicated that "the rapid technological development of the modern age may give rise to the idea that the local dimension has been by-passed. However, this is not so. ... When the instruments of social communication disassociate themselves from a clear social and human context, the models they propose result in a depersonalized and individualistic (society), often antithetical to the true good of the person, the family and the local community."

The Pope made clear his desire that all the Christian communication media, both national and local, might intensify their collaboration and he asked communication professionals to be interpreters of "the answers that the Gospel offers to the worries and questions of the men and women of today."

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TWO PRESS CONFERENCES SCHEDULED FOR NEXT WEEK

VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 1999 (VIS) - On Tuesday, June 1 at 11:30 a.m. in the Holy See Press Office, Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, will preside at a press conference to present his dicastery's document, "A Pastoral Ministry for Culture."

The following day, June 2, at 12:30 p.m. in the press office, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, respectively president and secretary general of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, will present the audio-visual series, "The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000," produced by the Vatican Television Center and Editalia S.p.A.

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VATICAN RADIO INAUGURATES A SPECIAL PROGRAM FOR THE BALKANS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 1999 (VIS) - On May 24 Vatican Radio inaugurated a special, one-hour long program for the Balkans, which is transmitted from 9 to 10 each evening in Albanian and Italian. The program includes news in Albanian and linkups and interviews from refugee camps, local dioceses, Caritas Albania and coordination centers for humanitarian aid.

News clippings from Italian papers, such as the Catholic dailies Avvenire and L'Osservatore Romano, are read in Albanian. There is also news useful to refugees, including messages aimed at reuniting family members.

In an interview on Vatican radio, Fr. Federico Lombardi, program director, said that they hope the broadcast will be of assistance in the humanitarian emergency, and an answer to the many demands made by humanitarian and religious organizations for "better information and for an exchange of information." It is hoped as well that the program will serve as "a moral support" for those involved in relief efforts.

For the Balkans this program is broadcast on 1611 KHz (MW), using a 120kW transmitter and Intelsat Atlantic satellite (325.5 degrees East, C band). For Rome and Italy, it is broadcast on 1611 MHz (MW).

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THE FAMILY AND THE CHALLENGES OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 1999 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for the Family will hold its 14th plenary assembly in the Vatican from May 31 through June 2 on the theme "The Family in the Face of the Challenges of the Third Millennium."

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, Bishop Francisco Gil Hellin and Msgr. Francesco Di Felice, respectively president, secretary and under-secretary of the council, and other council officials will present reports on this theme as well as on past activities and future projects of the pontifical council. Those scheduled to attend include the cardinals and bishops on the Committee of the Presidency, council officials and members and consultors, some of whom have been recently named.

On June 2 leaders from pro-family and pro-life associations and movements who are assisting in the preparation of the Third World Encounter of Families with the Holy Father, to take place in Rome on October 14-15, 2000, will also participate in the plenary.
At the end of the plenary assembly there will be a three-day meeting to study the theme "The Paternity of God and Paternity in the Family," in view of the fact that 1999, the third and final year of preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000, is dedicated to God the Father. Additional guests will join the members of the plenary assembly.

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STATISTICS FOR THE CHURCH IN POLAND

VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 1999 (VIS) - Statistics for the Church in Poland have been published on the occasion of the Pope's eighth apostolic trip to his native country - his 87th trip outside of Italy - from June 5 to 17. The statistics are drawn from the latest Statistical Yearbook of the Church, updated to December 31, 1997.

Poland has a population of 38.6 million inhabitants of whom 36.8 million - 95.4 percent - are Catholic. There are 43 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 9,723 parishes and 800 pastoral centers of other types. Bishops number 120 (on April 30, 1999), priests 26,435 and religious 26,963. There are 925 lay members of secular institutes, 11,413 catechists, 670 minor seminarians and 6,762 major seminarians.

A total of 242,309 pupils attend the 668 Catholic study centers from kindergarten to university. There are also other centers owned by the Church and run by ecclesiastics or religious: 60 hospitals, 51 clinics, 165 homes for the elderly or the handicapped, 222 orphanages and nurseries, 1,650 family consultancies and other centers for the protection of life as well as 82 special education centers.

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CATHOLIC-LUTHERAN PRESS CONFERENCE ON DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION

VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 1999 (VIS) - A press conference will be held at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva, Switzerland on June 11, "to announce the positive conclusion of the process of examination undertaken by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation relative to the Joint Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification."

The communique announcing this conference, published yesterday afternoon, stated that it will be presided over by Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Rev. Ismael Noko, secretary general of the Lutheran World Federation.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 28, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Six prelates from the Cameroon Episcopal Conference on their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Adalbert Ndzana of Mbalmayo.
- Bishop Simon-Victor Tonye Bakot of Edea.
- Bishop Jerome Owono-Mimboe of Obala.
- Bishop Eugeniusz Juretzko O.S.I., of Yokadouma.
- Bishop Raphael Marie Ze of Sangmelima.
- Bishop Emmanuel Bushu of Yagoua.

This evening he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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