HOLY FATHER HAS ANNUAL ENCOUNTER WITH ROMAN CLERGY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 9, 2000 (VIS) - The pastors and clergy of the diocese of Rome were welcomed this morning in St. Peter's Basilica by the Holy Father, who remarked that the annual meeting was characterized this year by both the start of Lent and the Jubilee. He noted that their Jubilee pilgrimage had begun with the passage through the Holy Door, a profession of faith and the sacrament of reconciliation.

He stated that penance "is of great help in overcoming acquiesence to those forms of self-justification, part of the mentality and culture of our times, which make one lose the sense of sin and prevent one from feeling the consoling joy of God's pardon."

The Pope then highlighted the need for a strong sense of communion between priests and their bishop, and with other priests, and urged them never to let increased pastoral work interfere with this. He encouraged them to help other priests, specially those with particular needs, the ill and elderly, and to be willing "to dialogue and meet with those who have left the priesthood."

"The primary subject of your solicitude must be families," said John Paul II. He stressed the importance of pastors' "Easter meetings with families": "This visit reinforces a sense of belonging to a community, in those many people who often live on its margins" and who are "awaiting occasions and concrete signs ... which will help them overcome solitude and anonymity and build a fabric of human and spiritual relationships."

The Holy Father also underscored the special attention that pastors must give to young people. "How many adolescents and young people in our city do not know they are loved and sought out by the Lord, because no one has told them or no one has met them with a sincere and fraternal friendship." Be the "spiritual fathers" of young people, he said, and prepare them well and properly for World Youth Day in August.

In closing remarks, the Pope touched on another group of persons to whom priests must dedicate themselves - the poor and the needy. In particular he urged Romans, the diocesan community and "every ecclesial body" to open homes and hearts and to extend special hospitality to "the neediest and poorest pilgrims."

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