ANGELUS REFLECTIONS ON JUBILEES OF DEACONS, ROMAN CURIA

VATICAN CITY, FEB 20, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul, in reflections preceding today's noon angelus prayer with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square below his study window, spoke of the just-concluded Jubilee of Permanent Deacons, addressing special words to those who were ordained deacons this morning in St. Peter's Basilica. He also spoke of the upcoming Jubilee for the Roman Curia.

The Pope told the deacons, who came from various parts of the world with their families to celebrate the Jubilee dedicated to them, that they "assume a singular 'diaconia', which is expressed above all in service to the Gospel." At your consecration, he added, "the ordaining bishop said these words: 'Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you will become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, live what you teach'." He urged them to "live your mission joyfully and faithfully."

He then referred to Tuesday's celebration of the Jubilee of the Roman Curia. "All who are in service to the Holy See - cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, religious and lay people - will pass together through the Holy Door, the symbol of mercy and a call to a renewal of life.

"A very close bond links the family of the Curia to the Successor of Peter, who benefits from its service in exercising the ministry entrusted to him by Christ to the advantage of the entire ecclesial community. And therefore it is important that he be able to count not only on the talents and efficiency of his collaborators, but on their communion in love, which is so deep as to make the Curia, as Pope Paul VI loved to say, "a permanent cenacle', totally consecrated to the good of the Church."

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