MESSAGE FOR ITALIAN CATHOLICS' SOCIAL WEEK

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from the Pope to participants in the 43rd Social Week of Italian Catholics, being held in Naples from November 16 to 20. The theme of the encounter is "Civil society in the Italy of tomorrow."

In the message, dated November 10, the Holy Father writes: "Wherever the State recognizes the existence of those cultural and associative resources, distinct from the political and economic fields, resources that possess an innovative organizational capacity that aims to support harmonious coexistence, then the way is open to constructive pursuit of the common good."

John Paul II emphasizes the fact that "the State must create the conditions favorable for the free exercise of economic activity (and that) a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help it to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society."

Making reference to the family, the Pope underlines that it "is the heart of society. ... Founded on matrimony, it represents stable continuity, a sanctuary of love and life, the essential cell of the social organism. It is on the 'health' of the family that the health of society depends."

The Holy Father concludes: "The future of society rests above all on the young. It is in the education of young generations that the religious experience of the Italian nation can boast a creative brilliance in its scholastic institutions, in large measure intended for those who are less well off. This merits respect and support through juridical and economic parity between state and non state schools."

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JOHN PAUL II VISITS "POPE'S UNIVERSITY"

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father this morning visited the Pontifical Lateran University, where, in the course of a 90-minute visit, he inaugurated the academic year and blessed the university's new atrium and other new or restored halls.

In his talk to the chancellor, rector, teachers and students of the Lateran, in addition to invited guests from other ecclesiastical and state-run universities, the Pope said that "in the modern era, the Illuminist reform of the university wished to answer the basic questions about man and his destiny, leaving Revelation out of consideration. In many cases theology saw itself expelled, so to speak, from the academic institutions, after having been at their center for centuries."

"In the current context, nevertheless, the re-dimensioning of the exclusivist pretexts of reason and the well-known aridness of agnostic relativism seem to place once again the research on the integrality of 'humanum' at the center of the attention of universities."

The Holy Father remarked that "as legitimate heirs of the academic tradition of medieval schools, 'ecclesiastical' universities are called to become protagonists of this re-awakening."

He highlighted the faculties and institutes which are part of the Lateran University. The theology faculty, he said, "is called to take on the constant tension of the 'intellectus fidei' and to penetrate ever more deeply the mystery of God and to propose it in the 'language' of the current generation.

"The philosophy faculty has to deal with, on the one hand, the continual development of the sciences of nature and man and, on the other, with the disappearance of a higher level of reflection."

The Holy Father then made brief remarks on the Pontifical Utriusque Iuris Institute and its study of civil and ecclesiastical law, the Redemptor Hominis Pontifical Pastoral Institute, dedicated to the social doctrine of the Church, and the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

In closing remarks, John Paul II reminded the faculty and students that the Lateran university "has the honor and burden of having the special title of 'the Pope's university'. Always take to heart the creative and dynamic unity between faith and 'intellectus fidei'."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Mario Francesco Pompedda, dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature.

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CARDINAL EDWARD CASSIDY TO RECEIVE 'NOSTRA AETATE' AWARD

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 1999 (VIS) - Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, president of the Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, has been chosen for the 1999 'Nostra Aetate' Award by the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S.A. He is co-recipient of the prize, together with Rabbi Yitzchak I. Greenberg, president of the Jewish Life Network, New York. The presentation ceremony will take place tomorrow, November 17, in the Park Avenue Synagogue, New York.

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12 BLESSEDS TO BE CANONIZED NOVEMBER 21

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 1999 (VIS) - On November 21, solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Pope John Paul II, at 9:30 a.m. in St. Peter's Basilica, will canonize 12 Blesseds, according to a communique released today by the Office of the Liturgical Ceremonies of the Supreme Pontiff.

The future saints are: Cirilo Bertran and eight companions (died 1934), religious of the institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and Inocencio de la Immaculada (died 1937), priest of the Congregation of the Passion of Christ, all of whom were martyrs; Benedetto Menni (1841-1914, priest of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God, founder of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Tommaso da Cori (1655-1729) priest of the Order of Friars Minor.

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