AUDIENCE WITH PILGRIMS IN ROME FOR BEATIFICATIONS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 4, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Square, the Pope received pilgrims who had participated in yesterday's beatifications.

Beginning his address by speaking of Pope Pius IX, John Paul II said: "The spirit of poverty, faith in God and abandoning himself to Providence, together with a marked sense of humor, helped him to overcome even the most difficult moments."

"Pope John XXIII," he continued, "united Christian virtue with a profound knowledge of humanity in its lights and shadows. ... He remained undisturbed in the face of tribulation, and knew how to look on the vicissitudes of life with optimism."

Speaking of Bishop Tommaso Reggio, founder of the Congregation of the Sister of St. Martha, the Pope highlighted his "profound communion with God" and the ideal of sanctity he proposed "to all categories of faithful: lay people, priests and consecrated persons, especially to sisters."

"The personality and activity of the new Blessed Guillaume-Joseph Chaminade," priest and founder of the Society of Mary, "who always sought to do God's work, calls all faithful to serious catechistic formation in order to develop and consolidate religious life and enter more profoundly into the meeting with Christ."

The Holy Father concluded expressing the hope that Blessed Columba Marmion, Benedictine abbot, "may help us all to live the Christian life ever more intensely and to have an ever deeper understanding of our membership in the Church, the mystical Body of Christ."

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