URBI ET ORBI: JUBILEE HIGHLIGHTS THE SACREDNESS OF CHRISTMAS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 25, 1999 (VIS) - In the traditional Christmas day message, 'Urbi et Orbi' (to the city and the world), John Paul II made a call from St. Peter's Square against "the senseless use of arms" and condemned war, racism, death camps and the denial of fundamental human rights. Furthermore, he requested leaders of nations to commit themselves to respecting the right to life and highlighted the fact that this year the Great Jubilee accentuates the sacred nature of Christmas.

From the balcony of the central 'loggia' in the recently restored facade of the basilica, John Paul II quoted the prophet Isaiah: "'To us a child is born, to us a son is given'," words which reveal, he said, "in all its fullness, the mystery of Christmas."

"Remembering the birth of Christ on this holy day, we live, together with this event, the 'mystery of man's divine adoption' through the work of Christ who comes into the world. For this reason, Christmas night and Christmas day are perceived as sacred by those who seek the truth."

Yet the sacred nature of Christmas this year is even more marked because "it is the beginning of the Great Jubilee." John Paul II highlighted this fact, mentioning the opening, prior to Midnight Mass, of the Holy Door in the Vatican Basilica: "A symbolic act, which inaugurates the Jubilee Year, a gesture which highlights with singular eloquence something already present in the mystery of Christmas: Jesus, born of Mary in the poverty of Bethlehem (is) the eternal Son given to us by the Father. ... (He is) the Door of our salvation, the Door of life, the Door of peace."
"Christ," explained the Pope, is "the Door of our salvation. (We must thank Him) for all the good of the years, centuries and millennia which have passed," although humanity has at times "invented false certainties, ... chased after deceptive ideologies" and "refused to respect and love" brothers and sisters from other races and creeds.

Christ is the Door of life "for the wonders with which (He) has enriched every generation." In His name, the Pope requested "that legislators and political leaders, men and women of good will (commit themselves) to welcoming human life as a precious gift."

Finally, said the Holy Father, Christ is the "Door of peace, as pilgrims in time we visit all the places of grief and of war, the resting places of the victims of brutal conflicts and cruel slaughter. You, Prince of Peace, invite us to ban the senseless use of arms, and the recourse to violence and hatred which have doomed individuals, peoples and continents."

"'To us a son is given'," the Pope concluded, "You, Father, have given us your Son. You give Him to us again today, at the dawn of the new millennium. ... You, O Christ are the same yesterday, today and forever."

Following his message, John Paul II gave Christmas greetings to the world in 58 languages.

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POPE OPENS HOLY DOOR OF ST. PETER'S BASILICA

VATICAN CITY, DEC 24, 1999 (VIS) - At 11:27 p.m. today John Paul II opened the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica. After pronouncing the words: 'Aperite mihi portas iustitiae,' (open for me the doors of justice), and hearing the reply: 'Ingressus in eas, confitebor Domino,' (I wish to enter and give thanks to the Lord), he pushed the door with both hands and thus inaugurated the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

Sixty-five thousand people were present at the ceremony; 8,200 filled the basilica while 56,000 in St. Peter's Square were able to follow the Mass on giant screens. The event was transmitted to 58 countries worldwide with a potential audience of 1.5 billion people.

In the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica the opening ceremony was attended by religious and civil authorities, among them Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, president of the Italian Republic, accompanied by his wife.

The moment the door was opened, the basilica was completely illuminated and the choir sang the Gloria. The Pope, who was wearing a pink, green, purple, red and white cape embroidered in gold, knelt in prayer for a few seconds before entering the basilica. Faithful from Asia and Oceania, wearing traditional dress, placed flowers around the door and scattered perfumes.

The Pontiff took the book of the Gospel and, after showing it to those present, crossed the Holy Door and walked towards the basilica's major altar. At the same time, faithful from Africa blew on ivory trumpets in a sign of joy and others from Europe and America accompanied the Holy Father to the altar, which stands under Bernini's baldachin. Once there, the Pope proclaimed the Great Jubilee to the world while the choir sang the Gloria and the bells rang out.

In the homily during Mass, John Paul II said: "You O Christ, are the Only-begotten Son of the living God, come among us in the stable of Bethlehem! After two thousand years, we re-live this mystery as a unique and unrepeatable event. Among all the children of men, all the children born into the world down the centuries, You alone are the Son of God. In an ineffable way, Your birth has changed the course of human events.

"This is the truth which on this night the Church wants to pass on to the third millennium. May all you who will come after us accept this truth, which has totally changed history. Ever since the night of Bethlehem, humanity knows that God became Man: He became Man in order to give man a share of His divine nature."

On the threshold of the third millennium the Church greets the Son of God "and with You she wishes to enter the third millennium. You are our hope. You alone have words of eternal life. ... You O Christ, the Son of the living God, be for us the Door! Be for us the true Door, symbolized by the door which on this night we have solemnly opened!

"Be for us the Door which leads us into the mystery of the Father. Grant that no-one may remain outside His embrace of mercy and peace! 'Hodie natus est nobis Salvator mundi': It is Christ who is our only Savior! This is the message of Christmas 1999: The 'today' of this Holy Night begins the Great Jubilee."

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CALL FOR PEACE IN CHECHNYA AND IVORY COAST

VATICAN CITY, DEC 26, 1999 (VIS) - After praying the angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope made a call for peace in Chechnya and the Ivory Coast:

"During this period, when the Christmas spirit calls upon men and women to become better and more fraternal, we must pray for those peoples who live amidst great suffering.

"In particular, we feel close to the inhabitants of Chechnya, nor can we forget the many peoples of Africa, among whom I would like to mention the citizens of the Ivory Coast who are traversing a difficult moment in their history.

"To all those who work on the road to harmony and peace I say: Have the courage of faithful and enduring dialogue in order that the fraternity, which Jesus made man came to offer as a gift to all humanity, may finally become a reality for everyone."

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PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF THE FAMILY AND OF LIFE

VATICAN CITY, DEC 26, 1999 (VIS) - In the angelus today, feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth, John Paul II stated that this moment offered him "a suitable occasion, at the start of the Holy Year 2000, to renew an appeal in support of the rights of the family, of life and of infancy."

"The family," he reminded pilgrims who had gathered in St. Peter's Square, "is a community of life and love, that comes into being when a man and a woman totally give themselves the one to the other in matrimony, ready to accept the gift of children. The fundamental right to life pertains to man from the moment of conception. This is in keeping with the essence of natural law and the tradition of the great religions, as well as with the spirit of article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

The Holy Father highlighted that "the union between the mother and the newborn and the irreplaceable role of the father necessitate that the child be welcomed into a family that guarantees, as far as possible, the presence of both parents. The specific contribution they offer to the family and, through that institution, to society, is worthy of the highest respect."

"The family today," he concluded, "requires special protection from the public authorities, who not infrequently are placed under pressure by interest groups to admit as a right that which in reality is the fruit of an individualistic and subjective mentality. ... May God enlighten legislators, politicians and all people of good will to promote the effective protection of the rights of the family, of life and of children."

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OPENING OF THE HOLY DOOR AT ST. JOHN LATERAN

VATICAN CITY, DEC 25, 1999 (VIS) - At 6 p.m. this evening the Holy Father travelled from the Vatican to St. John Lateran. There, he opened the Holy Door of the basilica and presided at the celebration of the second vespers of the birth of the Lord.

At the start of his homily, the Holy Father affirmed that "God entered human history, He came to follow the paths of this world in order to give to all the capability of becoming children of God."

John Paul II recalled that the Lateran Basilica is the "mother and head of all Roman Churches throughout the world, as well as being the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. Here in 1300, Pope Boniface VIII solemnly inaugurated the first Holy Year in history. Here in the Jubilee of 1423, Pope Martin V first opened the Holy Door."

"We have passed through that door," he continued, "which represents Christ Himself. In fact, He alone is the Savior sent by God the Father, who makes us pass from sin to grace, and introduces us to the full communion that unites Him to the Father in the Holy Spirit. We give thanks to God, rich in mercy, who gave his only Son as man's Redeemer."
The Pope concluded by underlining that the Holy Year "invites us to respond with joy and generosity to the call to sanctity, in order (for us) to become an ever greater sign of hope in modern society, as it heads towards the third millennium."

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TAIZE COMMUNITY MEETS IN WARSAW

VATICAN CITY, DEC 28, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from the Pope to Frere Roger, prior of the Taize community, on the occasion of that organization's 22nd European meeting. The event is being held in Warsaw, Poland, from December 28, 1999 to January 1, 2000.

In the message, dated November 30 and written in French, John Paul II expresses the hope that the meeting of young people in Poland "be a privileged moment of mutual greeting and fraternity, of prayer and contemplation, that brings about a greater openness to God and to others."

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