CELEBRATIONS FOR BICENTENARY OF POPE PIUS VII

VATICAN CITY, SEP 7, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from the Pope to Dom Isidoro Catanesi and Dom Innocenzo Negrato, respectively president of the Benedictine Congregation of Monte Cassino, Italy, and visitor to the Benedictine Congregation's Italian province of Subiaco, for the commemoration of the bicentenary of Pope Pius VII's election to the See of Peter.

In the message, which is dated August 14, John Paul II recalls the person and activity of "this most illustrious Pope and faithful son of St. Benedict." He was born in 1742, ordained a priest in 1765, a bishop in 1782 and elected Pope in 1800. In 1809 he was arrested and imprisoned in France and later in Savona, Italy. In 1814 he was freed and a year later forced into exile in Genoa following the invasion of Rome and the Papal States. "In these circumstances," writes the Pope, "he displayed constancy in defending the Church and tenacious courage in enduring affronts and suffering."

"To underline the constant bonds between this Pope and the Mother of God, the commemorative historical congress of his election has chosen to open on September 15, liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows which, on September 18, 1814 Pius VII chose to extend to the whole Church in recollection of the suffering inflicted on the Church during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic domination. Moreover, on September 15, 1815, in order to perpetuate the memory of his triumphant return to Rome of May 24, 1814 he decreed that every year the diocese of Rome would celebrate, on May 24, the Feast of Mary, Help of Christians."

John Paul II requests that, following Pius VII's example, "the people of our time might draw precious guidance in order to face the challenges of the modern age with similar missionary ardor. Today, as in his time, we must know how to bear life's difficulties while remaining steadfast in listening to and obeying the Gospel."

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