POPE JOHN PAUL INAUGURATES NEW VATICAN PARKING LOT

VATICAN CITY, JAN 31, 2000 (VIS) - This morning, in the presence of civil and ecclesiastical authorities, the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, and representatives of the company who built the new Vatican underground parking lot, Pope John Paul visited and inaugurated the site for tourist busses and cars which was built on Janiculum Hill for the Jubilee Year.

At 11:30 a.m. he arrived by car at level "0" and took an elevator to the fifth floor, where he addressed those present. He thanked the companies who undertook building the parking lot on property owned by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, whose prefect, Cardinal Jozef Tomko, also spoke to those assembled.

The Pope pointed out that the aim of the parking lot "is to facilitate the pilgrims' access to the Vatican, especially during this Jubilee year, but also to ease traffic circulation in a key point of the city. ... I therefore wish to express great pleasure for a work which offers notable urban advantages without damaging Janiculum Hill's well-known panorama, and I willingly join all of you in thanking the Lord for this."

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