TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND POLES CELEBRATE JUBILEE WITH HOLY FATHER

VATICAN CITY, JUL 6, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul this morning celebrated Mass at 8 in St. Peter's Square for 25,000 fellow Poles, who came to Rome on a national pilgrimage for a three-day celebration of the Jubilee Year 2000.

In his homily the Holy Father underlined two particular "dimensions of the pastoral activity of the clergy and the laity in our country": the duty to preach the Gospel as mandated by Jesus Christ to His followers, and the duty both "to show mercy to those who need it ... and to meet the needs of those who have undergone injustices."

The Pope remarked that, as we enter the new millennium, we must preach the Gospel with greater fervor. "May parents be witnesses to children and young people! May young people bring the Good News to their peers, who often lose the sense of life, losing their way among the proposals of the world. May pastors not forget that the missionary spirit, the solicitude for every person who seeks Christ and for all who have strayed from Him, belongs to the essence of their pastoral mission."

Addressing the second dimension of pastoral activity, he observed that "the Jubilee, as a period in which we experience in a special way the mercy of God, leads us to those who most need our mercy. The 'today' of the Church ... must be lived as a 'today' of the poor, the oppressed, those who are alone or ill. ... May this year of grace be proclaimed to them through works of active love." For all who have lost their work, their home, their health or the possibility of education, "the leaders of all levels of society in our country must make every effort so that the introduction of just economic reforms be fulfilled profitably for everyone, especially the poorest. I ask this in a special way of all those who base their activity on Christian values.

"The duty of meeting the needs of those who have undergone injustices weighs above all not only on politicians, on entrepreneurs or on charitable organizations, but on all those who in any way can remedy the needs of others."

The Holy Father concluded with an appeal to "perform works of mercy for our brothers and sisters," returning "constantly to the idea of the preferential option for the poor and needy."

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