THE JUBILEE MUST GIVE RISE TO A RENEWED EVANGELIZING IMPULSE

VATICAN CITY, SEP 23, 2000 (VIS) - In St. Peter's Square this morning, the Pope received a number of Italian pilgrims from the archdioceses of Naples and Lucca and from the dioceses of Brescia and Parma, as well as members of the Apostolate of Prayer from the archdiocese of Barcelona, Spain.

To faithful from Brescia, John Paul II said that their diocese "may take particular glory in having given the Church a Pope of the stature of Paul VI, whose memory remains indelible in the hearts of all." In this Jubilee year, he went on, "may you know how to live with profundity the reality of Christian community, in its two aspects of communion and mission."

"May the Jubilee," he said to pilgrims from the diocese of Parma, "be a forceful moment on your ecclesial journey, one from which arises a renewed impulse to evangelization. Reconciliation with God and with our brothers and sisters is an essential condition for making announcement of the Gospel effective, as there is no Christian mission that is not born from a deep experience of communion with God and with our fellows."

The Holy Father requested faithful from the archdiocese of Lucca to place Christ at the center of their communities "through listening attentively to His Word and through rediscovering the Eucharist as the source and fulfillment of all ecclesial life. You will also find it a great help, not only to give attention to the permanent formation of priests, but also ever increasingly to involve the laity in those sectors most suited to their status within the pastoral life of the diocesan community."

Finally, the Pope greeted members of the Apostolate of Prayer from the archdiocese of Barcelona, Spain, to whom he said: "Remember that in encountering Jesus Christ through prayer, we forge the apostolic temperament that seeks to give rise to a sincere longing for sanctity."

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