Friday, July 9, 1999

POPE SPENDS FIRST VACATION DAY TOURING MOUNTAINS


VATICAN CITY, JUL 9, 1999 (VIS) - Yesterday, the first full day of his vacation, the Holy Father went for a ride in the mountains near La Thuile, had a picnic lunch under a tent, rested in a lounge chair, read, and enjoyed the companionship of those accompanying him on his 13-day stay in Italy's northwestern Valle d'Aosta region. He left his house just before 11 a.m. and returned just before 7 p.m.

Pope John Paul is staying in the small mountain village of Les Combes, a hamlet of 30 inhabitants which lies just over 1,000 meters above sea level and in the midst of peaceful wooded areas, rivers and walking trails. This is the seventh time that he has spent his vacation in Les Combes.

The villa-chalet where the Holy Father is staying is a two-story stone construction plus a mansard which serves as a mini-apartment for the Pope, with a bedroom, bath, study and chapel. The chalet has breathtaking views of the surrounding area and the mansard overlooks Mount Blanc.

The area which the Pope is visiting includes Gran Paradiso, Italy's first national park, which was established in 1922. It is 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) in size and goes from a low point of 800 meters in the valley regions to a height of 4,061 meters at the Gran Paradiso Mountain.

In an article which appeared in the diocesan newspaper yesterday, Bishop Giuseppe Anfossi of Aosta recalled that, during his March 1999 "ad limina" visit to Rome, Pope John Paul told him that he would very much "like to see Valle d'Aosta in the snow."

JPII-VACATION;...;...;LES COMBES;VIS;19990709;Word: 270;

CLARIFICATION OF CANONS DEALING WITH CARE OF THE EUCHARIST


VATICAN CITY, JUL 9, 1999 (VIS) - Made public yesterday was a note from the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, signed by council president, Archbishop Julian Herranz, regarding the authentic interpretation of canons dealing with the care of the Most Holy Eucharist.

In the note, Archbishop Herranz recalls that the Eucharist is the center and root of the life of the Church. Consequently, "we can understand the care and commitment taken by the pastors of the Church so that this invaluable gift of God be deeply and religiously loved, safeguarded and surrounded by that cult which expresses, in the best way possible within human limits, faith in the real presence of Christ - blood, body, soul and divinity - under the species of bread and wine, even after the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice."

In contrast to this veneration of the Eucharist, cases exist "not only of deplorable disciplinary abuses, but even of acts of contempt and profanation by individuals who, almost diabolically inspired, presume to thus oppose that which is most sacred for the Church and the faithful, and what they most protect, adore and love."

After referring to acts "of hatred for and offense against the Holy Sacrament" that constitute "a very grave moral fault of sacrilege," Archbishop Herranz indicates that "in certain cases these acts of sacrilege constitute genuine and authentic crimes, according to the canons of ecclesiastical legislation."

The text of Canon 1367 of the C.I.C. reads as follows: "A person who throws away the consecrated species or who takes them or retains them for a sacrilegious purpose incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; if a cleric, he can be punished with another penalty including dismissal from the clerical state."

With regard to abuses against the species of bread and wine, the following doubt was expressed: "Whether in Canons 1367 of the C.I.C. and 1442 of the C.C.E.O. (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches), the word 'abicere' is to be understood or not as the act of throwing away." The Fathers of the pontifical council have replied: "Negatively and 'ad mentem'."

They explain that the "mente" is "Any voluntary action that is gravely contemptuous must be included in the word 'abicere'."

"The verb 'abicit'," adds Archbishop Herranz, "must not only be understood in the strict sense of to throw away, nor even generically in the sense of to profane, but rather in the broader meaning of to have contempt for, to despise, to humiliate. Consequently, a grave act of sacrilege against the Body and Blood of Christ is committed by anyone who takes and/or retains the sacred species for sacrilegious ends (obscene, superstitious or impious) or by anyone who, even without removing it from the tabernacle, the monstrance or the altar, makes it the object of any external voluntary and grave act of contempt. For anyone guilty of this act the provision exists, in the Latin Church, for the penalty of 'latae sententiae' (automatic) excommunication, the absolution of which is reserved to the Holy See; and, in the Oriental Catholic Churches, for major excommunication 'ferendae sententiae' (imposed)."

Finally, the document recalls that "the sin of sacrilege must not be confused with the crime of sacrilege; not all the sins committed in this regard are to be considered as crimes. ... The crime of sacrilege which is being dealt with here, must entail an external act, though not necessarily a public one."

The Holy Father, in the audience granted to Archbishop Herranz on July 3, was informed of the decision taken by the council, confirmed the decision and ordered its publication.

...;CARE EUCHARIST;...;CON-LTI; HERRANZ;VIS;19990709;Word: 570;

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 9, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Salvatore Boccaccio of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto, Italy, as bishop of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino (area 804, population 185,570, Catholics 183,000, priests 134, religious 274), Italy. He succeeds Bishop Angelo Cella M.S.C., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Msgr. Leonard P. Blair of the clergy of Detroit (area 10,106, population 4,266,654, Catholics 1,452,100, priests 789, permanent deacons 143, religious 2,436), U.S.A., as auxiliary of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect was born in Detroit in 1949, ordained a priest in 1976 and since 1997 has been pastor in the parish of Saint Paul at Grosse Pointe.

NER; RE; NEA;...;...;BOCCACCIO; CELLA; BLAIR ;VIS;19990709;Word: 120;