POPE TO MAKE A "SPIRITUAL" PILGRIMAGE TO UR OF THE CHALDEANS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 16, 2000 (VIS) - During today's general audience, the Pope announced that next Wednesday he will make a pilgrimage, "at least in spirit," to Ur of the Chaldeans, thus starting his journey to those places linked to the history of salvation.

The Holy Father told the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square that, as it has not proved possible to "pray and meditate at Ur of the Chaldeans," Abraham's place of origin, "next Wednesday, in a special celebration in the Paul VI Hall, we will relive together some of the key events of Abraham's experience."

"Following this first stage," he continued, "it will be possible to continue, with our spirits full of gratitude, towards the other stages of the progress of the history of salvation; starting with Mount Sinai where Moses experienced the revelation of the most holy name of God and came to know His mystery. I invite you, starting now, to accompany my pilgrimage with your prayers."

John Paul II recalled that "the pilgrimage is one of the most important and profound spiritual aspects of the Jubilee." Consequently, he added, "I would have liked first to visit Ur of the Chaldeans, today called Tal al Muqayyar in southern Iraq, Abraham's place of origin." The patriarch, obeying God's command, left his country and journeyed to the land that God would show him. "With him, God's salvation began to move along the paths of human history."

Abraham, said the Pope, "fully adhered to God's plan for himself and his descendants and became the father of a multitude of believers. Consequently, walking 'in Abraham's footsteps' we learn to give concrete value to the requirements of true faith, and we experience the dynamism of the divine initiative which has its culmination in Christ."

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