POPE GREETS PRIESTS ON VIGIL OF THEIR JUBILEE

VATICAN CITY, MAY 18, 2000 (VIS) - Last evening at 7:30, Pope John Paul appeared at the window of his study which overlooks St. Peter's Square, and addressed the priests who had gathered there to pray on the vigil of the Jubilee of Priests, whose culminating moment will be the concelebrated Mass tomorrow morning in the square.

"Today you have been listening to the witness of the Saints," he told them. "If, in fact, the Great Jubilee commemorates the Incarnation of the Word in history, the Saints are those brothers and sisters who constitute a sort of perpetuation of that mystery, by virtue of their great obedience to the Holy Spirit."

The Pope then pointed out that, "in the long list of chosen souls which mark the two millennia of the Christian era, there are numerous priests who, in every generation, have made the holiness of Christ, the Good Shepherd, present among the People of God. In the 20th century the Church is also rich in holy priests - martyrs and confessors."

AC;PRIESTS; VIGIL JUBILEE;...;...;VIS;20000518;Word: 170;