HOLY FATHER WELCOMES 3,500 SWISS ON NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE

VATICAN CITY, SEP 25, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope John Paul welcomed 3,500 Swiss who are in Rome for their Jubilee Year pilgrimage.

Speaking German, one of Switzerland's national languages, he pointed out that today, "Day of the Swiss," gave him the occasion to speak of the Swiss Guards in the Vatican and to thank them for their "faithful and conscientious service."

"As all pilgrims throughout the Holy Year," the Pope went on, "you too have come to go through the Holy Door, which is open for everyone. The Holy Door is an image of Christ when he said of Himself: 'I am the door'." He remarked that everyone is free to choose the door in life through which they wish to pass, but added that not all doors are fitting ones. The wrong doors, he said, can lead to dissatisfaction, unhappiness and emptiness. The right ones lead us to Christ.

Then, addressing the pilgrims in French, the Pope said: "Your Jubilee path introduces you, as it does the entire Church, to a new period of grace and mission, inviting you to take an ever more active part in the life of your Christian communities, under the guidance of your pastors, to be witnesses of ecclesial communion and missionaries of the Gospel to your brothers."

In closing remarks, the Holy Father greeted Italian-speaking Swiss: "You have come to Rome to pass through the Holy Door. May this rite be for you a strong spiritual experience which helps you welcome Christ in your lives with a more total openness."

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