HOLY FATHER'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR DECEMBER

VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father's general prayer intention for December is: "That in the year 2000 the proclamation of the Gospel good news: 'A Savior has been born to us; He is Christ the Lord,' ring out with renewed strength."

His missionary intention is: "That diocesan priests welcome the ever-insistent call to 'Fidei Donum' missionary service."

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WE MUST REDISCOVER THE VALUE OF THE FAMILY AND MARRIAGE

VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 1999 (VIS) - In today's general audience, held in Paul VI Hall, the Pope spoke about commitment to the promotion of the family.

John Paul II indicated that in order to adequately prepare ourselves for the Jubilee, it is necessary to rediscover "the value of the family and of marriage. This is all the more urgent as today this value is being put in doubt by a large part of culture and of society."

He continued: "The very concept of the family, as a community based on matrimony between a man and a woman, is being attacked in the name of an ethical relativism that is gaining ground in large sectors of public opinion and even of civil legislation. In its turn, the crisis in the family becomes the cause of the crisis in society. No small number of pathological phenomena - from solitude to violence to drugs - may also be explained because nuclear families have lost their identity and function." The lack of family ties has repercussions, especially on children, the disabled, the sick and the elderly.

The Holy Father underlined that "the family draws its strength from the definitive alliance of love that man and woman mutually exchange, thus together becoming collaborators with God in giving the gift of life."

Man and woman are called by God to live a "profound communion" of love. "God entrusts to this 'unity of two' not only the work of procreation and family life, but the creation of history itself."

After recalling that the child is the "maximum expression of the communion between man and woman," John Paul II concluded by affirming that "contemplating God the Father means conceiving the family as a place for welcoming and promoting life. ... Through the experience of Christian families, the Church can learn to cultivate a more familial dimension among all members of the community."

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AUDIENCE

VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in audience Cardinal Francis Arinze, Bishop Michael Fitzgerald and Msgr. Felix Anthony Machado, respectively president. secretary and under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue.

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HUMANITARIAN MISSION COMPLETED IN KOREA

VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 1999 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration this afternoon:

"Yesterday, a humanitarian visit to the People's Republic of Korea by Msgrs. Celestino Migliore, under-secretary for Relations with States and Paul R. Gallagher, nunciature counsellor at the Secretariat of State, came to a close.

"In response to the humanitarian appeal launched by the authorities in Pyongyang in 1995, the Holy See encouraged Catholic charity organizations to lend immediate aid. The call was generously taken up by various groups, among them Caritas Internationalis, Catholic Relief Services, Misereor, and the episcopal conferences of South Korea and Italy. For its part, the Holy See, for the fourth time, sent its representatives to North Korea, thus assuring the constant solidarity of the Holy Father with the North Korean people.

"The Holy See delegation, together with Kathi Zellweger, director of international cooperation of Caritas-Hong Kong, visited the district of Kujang in order to deliver hospital equipment for two hospitals in the region's main town. They then travelled to the province of Wonsan, accompanying a huge quantity of food aid destined for various centers involved in the care and education of orphan and handicapped children.
"In Pyongyang, the delegation had talks with Li In Gyn, vice minister for foreign affairs; Pak Jong Min, director of external affairs at the ministry of health; the directors of the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee and with those responsible for the Association of Catholics of North Korea."

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CARDINAL SODANO ON "BEING AMBASSADORS TO THE HOLY SEE"

VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 1999 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano will give an address this afternoon at the embassy of Italy to the Holy See to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.

His talk is the last in a series on the theme "Being Ambassadors to the Holy See Today," sponsored by the "Associazione Carita Politica" (Political Charity Association), which began the series of meetings and speeches in January 1997 as preparation for the Great Jubilee 2000. More than 50 ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, as well as an equal number of high-ranking prelates of the Roman Curia, have addressed the fortnightly gatherings.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Fr. Jose Belisario da Silva O.F.M., rector of the Saint Anthony Seminary of Santos Dumont, Brazil, as bishop of the diocese of Bacabal (area 18,000, population 619,000, Catholics 456,000, priests 25, religious 70), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Carmopolis de Minas, Brazil, in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1969.

- As members of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue: Archbishops Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, Romeo Panciroli M.C.C.I., apostolic nuncio and Daniel Acharuparambil O.C.D., of Verapoly, India; Bishops Felix Kouadjo of Bondoukou, Ivory Coast and John Tong Hon, auxiliary of Hong Kong, China.

- Archbishop-Bishop Francesco Pio Tamburrino O.S.B, emeritus of Teggiano-Policastro and secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as member of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

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