ADVENT SERMON FOR POPE, PRELATES OF THE ROMAN CURIA

VATICAN CITY, DEC 3, 1999 (VIS) - This morning Pope John Paul and prelates of the Roman Curia attended the first of three Friday Advent sermons in the newly restored "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel in the Vatican. The theme of the Advent meditations, given by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap., preacher of the papal household, is "From Abraham to Christ. A Pilgrimage Towards the History of Salvation."

Pope John Paul had expressed a desire that the Advent sermons reflect upon the great figures of the Bible who had prepared the way for the coming of Christ, in whom they found their fulfillment. Three persons from the Old Testament and three from the New Testament will be studied: Abraham-Mary, Moses-Paul, Isaiah-Peter.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 3, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Franco Croci, secretary of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, as titular bishop of Potenza Picena.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 3, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
- Archbishop Mario Francesco Pompedda, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature.
- Adam Daniel Rotfeld, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

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

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CARDINAL CASSIDY TO LAY CORNERSTONE OF ECUMENICAL CENTER

VATICAN CITY, DEC 3, 1999 (VIS) - Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will lay the cornerstone blessed by Pope John Paul II of the "El Salvador" Chapel and Ecumenical Center in Oliva, Spain, on Sunday, December 5.

"This chapel is an initiative of the archdiocese of Valencia to promote ecumenism in the Third Millennium," states a communique released today by the pontifical council. "The chapel will serve particularly the numerous tourists who come to the region throughout the year. On December 4, Cardinal Cassidy will preside at and address a colloquium whose theme is 'Nuevos espacios ecumenicos en el contexto de la Europa de hoy' (New ecumenical spaces in the context of Europe today)."

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