POPE HOPES TO VISIT HOLY LAND DURING JUBILEE YEAR 2000

VATICAN CITY, JUN 29, 1999 (VIS) - Prior to praying the angelus at noon today, the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, Pope John Paul announced the publication tomorrow of his "Letter Concerning Pilgrimage to the Places Linked with the History of Salvation," and his desire to personally make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land during the Jubilee Year 2000.

"I would like to underline the exclusively religious and spiritual nature of such a pilgrimage, to which no other interpretation should be given. To visit the ancient Ur of the Chaldeans, the native land of Abraham, or Mount Sinai, symbol of the Exodus and the Covenant, and above all Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, means retracing the path of Divine Revelation."

The Pope, recalling that he had visited the Holy Land as archbishop of Krakow in 1965, said he has "a strong desire to go and pray in these holy places," especially "as a pilgrim Pope in the Year 2000. This is an intention I entrust to Mary Most Holy."

ANG;TRIP HOLY LAND;...;...;VIS;19990630;Word: 170;

PRAY FOR UNITY AT THE THRESHOLD OF THE JUBILEE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 29, 1999 (VIS) - Today, solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, John Paul II celebrated Mass in the Vatican basilica and imposed the pallium on 37 metropolitan archbishops who were appointed during the course of the last year.

In his homily, the Holy Father indicated that "from the day of Pentecost Peter governed the Church, ensuring its faithfulness to the Gospel and directing its first contacts with the world of the Gentiles. ... Paul, one-time persecutor of the newborn Church, touched by the grace of God on the road to Damascus, became the untiring apostle of the people."

Pope John Paul recalled that on today's feast it is a tradition for Popes to impose the pallium on a group of metropolitan archbishops "as a sign of communion with the See of Peter." Addressing the prelates, he said: "Together with you, I wish to greet the Christian communities entrusted to your pastoral care. Under your judicious guidance, they are called to offer courageous testimony of faith in Christ and in His Gospel."

"Furthermore, the longing for unity between Christians is highlighted by the presence of delegates from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople." To them "I extend my warmest considerations and through them I greet the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I."

The Holy Father stressed that "the approach of the Jubilee of the year 2000 invites us to pray for unity" and to accompany that prayer with "concrete gestures." He continued: "For this reason, I have requested that the calendar for the year 2000 include, on the eve of the feast of the Transfiguration, as requested by His Holiness Bartholomew I, a day of jubilee prayer and fasting. This initiative will stand as a concrete expression, both of our wish to unite ourselves to the initiatives of our brethren in the Orthodox Churches and, at the same time, of our desire that they join in our (initiatives)."

HML;SAINTS PETER; PAUL;...;...;VIS;19990630;Word: 330;

POPE ON CRISES AND SUFFERINGS WHICH MARK AFRICAN CONTINENT

VATICAN CITY, JUN 29, 1999 (VIS) - In post-angelus reflections this morning, John Paul II spoke of the "numerous situations of crisis and suffering which mark the African continent," and asked for prayers especially for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and for Rwanda.

To the peoples of the Congo, "especially the Catholic community," he said: "I wish to express a thought of spiritual closeness and encouragement, exhorting them to face together the difficulties of the present and the challenges of the future." Turning to Rwanda, he said "my solidarity goes, in particular, to the Church in Rwanda, harshly tried, even by having one of its pastors detained."

ANG;CONGO; RWANDA;...;...;VIS;19990630;Word: 110;

MESSAGE TO ORDER CELEBRATING 150TH ANNIVERSARY

VATICAN CITY, JUN 30, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message by Pope John Paul to the Sisters of the Institute of the Daughters of St. Joseph of Caburlotto, on the occasion of their 23rd general chapter and of the 150th anniversary of their founding by Venerable Don Luigi Caburlotto. The Pope underlined the order's educational and missionary work, as well as a project nearing completion - the re-writing of the congregation's Rule of life.

MESS;ANNIVERSARY CONGREGATION;...;CABURLOTTO;VIS;19990630;Word: 80;

PAPAL LETTER: PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY PLACES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 30, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was the Letter of the Holy Father concerning "Pilgrimage to the Places Linked to the History of Salvation," which was announced in yesterday's angelus. It is dated June 29, solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, has been translated into Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish and is 16 pages long.

In the document, John Paul II expresses his desire to travel, on the occasion of the Jubilee, the route that marks the history of salvation, from the ancient Ur to Athens where Paul, Apostle of the people, preached. The pivotal point of the journey will be the holy places, which the Pope visited in 1965 when he was archbishop of Krakow.

"To go in a spirit of prayer from one place to another," writes the Holy Father, "in the area marked especially by God's intervention, ... gives us a vivid sense of a God who has gone before us and leads us on, who himself set out on man's path, a God who does not look down on us from on high, but who became our travelling companion."

"For this reason, in the perspective of the two thousandth anniversary of the Incarnation, I have a strong desire to go personally to pray in the most important places which, from the Old to the new Testament, have seen God's interventions, which culminate in the mysteries of the Incarnation and of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ."

The Pope goes on to describe the itinerary of his pilgrimage: "Ur, the place of Abraham's origins, ... the famous monastery of Saint Catherine, on Sinai, near the mountain of the Covenant, which in a way speaks of the entire mystery of the Exodus, the enduring paradigm of the new Exodus which was to be fully accomplished on Golgotha." And, from the New Testament: "Nazareth, the town linked to the actual moment of the Incarnation and the place where Jesus grew. ... Bethlehem, where Christ was born and the shepherds and the wise men gave voice to the adoration of all humanity. ... Jerusalem, the place of the death on the Cross and of the Ressurection of the Lord Jesus."

Of this particularly important stage on his journey, the Pope writes: "There I shall contemplate the places where Christ gave his life and took it up again in the Ressurection, imparting to us the gift of His Spirit." Among the places in Jerusalem "I will have to visit the Upper room ... a return to the very origins of the Church."
The last stage of the Holy Father's pilgrimage will be the two cities that were important "for the infant Church and which saw the missionary outreach of the first Christian community," in particular the two cities linked to the life of Paul, Apostle of the People, "Damascus, the place which recalls his conversion (and) Athens, where Paul gave his magnificent speech in the Areopagus."

John Paul II expresses his hope that, "at least in its main points," this ideal plan can be put into effect. "It would be an exclusively religious pilgrimage in its nature and purpose, and I would be saddened if anyone were to attach other meanings to this plan of mine."

The pilgrimage to the holy places thus becomes a highly meaningful experience and in a sense is evoked by every other Jubilee pilgrimage. The Church cannot forget her roots. Indeed, she must return to them again and again if she is to remain completely faithful to God's plan."

The "deep bond" which Christians have with Jews also forms part of this focus on the Holy Land. From the Jews, the Pope says, "Christ came according to the flesh."

The Holy Father explains that "much ground has been covered ... since the Second Vatican Council, in opening a fruitful dialogue with the people whom God chose as the first recipients of His promises and of the Covenant. The Jubilee must be another opportunity to deepen the sense of the bonds that unite us, helping us to remove once and for all the misunderstandings which, sad to say, have so often through the centuries marked with bitterness the relationship between Christians and Jews."

The Pope adds that the Holy Land is also important for Muslims, thus manifesting his desire that the visit to the holy places "will provide an opportunity to meet them as well."

John Paul II closes the Letter by stressing that during the pilgrimage he wishes "to be welcomed as a pilgrim and brother not only by the Catholic communities, ... but also by the other Churches which have lived uninterruptedly in the Holy Places and have been their custodians with fidelity and love of the Lord."

He concludes: "More than any other pilgrimage which I have made, the one I am about to undertake ... will be marked by the desire expressed in Christ's prayer to the Father that his disciples 'may all be one'. ... For this reason, I trust that all our brothers and sisters in faith ... will see in my pilgrim steps in the land travelled by Christ a 'doxology' for the salvation which we have all received, and I would be happy if we could gather together in the places of our common origin, to bear witness to Christ our unity and to confirm our mutual commitment to the restoration of full communion."

JPII-LETTER;PILGRIMAGE;...;...;VIS;19990630;Word: 900;

STS. PETER AND PAUL, "TWO PILLARS OF THE CHURCH"

VATICAN CITY, JUN 30, 1999 (VIS) - Pope John Paul focussed today's general audience catechesis on yesterday's solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, calling them "princes of the apostles" and two "pillars of the Church," and recounting their individual lives and roles in the founding and early days of the Church.

The Pope pointed out that this solemnity is a very ancient celebration. He recalled that St. Peter, "a fisherman from Bethsaida, was chosen by Christ as the founding stone of the Church. St. Paul ... went from persecuting Christians to being the apostle of peoples. ... Both ended their lives with martyrdom in Rome. ... The Pope invokes the authority of these two 'pillars of the Church' when, in official acts, he refers tradition to its source, which is the Word of God, preserved and transmitted by the apostles.

The Holy Father also explained that the rite of imposing the pallium on newly created metropolitan archbishops on this June 29 solemnity dates to the first centuries of the Christian era.
There are two particularly significant aspects of this rite, he said. One is "the special relationship between the metropolitan archbishops with the Successor of Peter and, as a result, with Peter himself." The second regards the lambs whose wool is shorn to make the pallium. "The lamb ... is the symbol of the Lamb of God who took the sins of the world upon Himself and offered Himself to redeem mankind. Lamb and Shepherd, Christ continues to watch over his flock and entrusts it to the care of those who sacramentally represent Him."

"With great sadness," the Pope then concluded, "I have learned of the death of His Holiness Karekin I, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all the Armenians. A deep bond of affection linked me to him. Having had the occasion to personally meet him twice during the visits that he paid me in recent years, I was able to admire his spiritual stature, his intense love of the Church and his concern for the unity of all Christians in Christ's one flock. I had so wished to be able to pay him a visit of fraternal friendship, but circumstances did not allow me."

AG;STS PETER PAUL;...;...;VIS;19990630;Word: 350;

AUDIENCE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 30, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in audience Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe. respectively president and secretary general of the Committee and Council of the Presidency of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

AP;...;...;...;VIS;19990630;Word: 50;

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 30, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Elliot G. Thomas. in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop George V. Murray S.J.

Yesterday, June 29, it was made public that the Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Roger Pirenne C.I.C.M. of Batouri, Cameroon, as archbishop of Bertoua (area 26,041, population 201,794, Catholics 63,134, priests 29, religious 68), Cameroon. The archbishop-elect was born in Clermont sur Berwinne, France, in 1934 and ordained a priest in 1958. He succeeds Archbishop Lambertus Johannes van Heygen C.S.Sp., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Leo Cornelio S.V.D., member of the General Council of the Verbites in Rome, as bishop of Khandwa (area 24,000, population 2,910,000, Catholics 28,400, priests 55, religious 265), India. The bishop-elect was born in Kukkunje, India, in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1972.

RE; NER;...;...;... ;VIS;19990630;Word: 120;