GENERAL AUDIENCE: MARY, BELOVED DAUGHTER OF THE FATHER

VATICAN CITY, JAN 5, 2000 (VIS) - In today's general audience, which was held in the Paul VI Hall and is the first of the year 2000, the Holy Father stated that God's divine intention of love for humanity is especially demonstrated in Mary, the 'Beloved daughter of the Father.'

The Pope recalled that "the first words with which, through His angel, God addresses Mary: 'Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you,' represent a greeting that may be understood as a call to joy. ... In these initial words to Mary, the Father reveals His intention to communicate true and definitive joy to humanity."

"The infinite tenderness of God-Love is revealed in the maternal traits of the Mother of Jesus. Mary is the only mother who can say, speaking of Jesus, 'my Son.' ... For His part, Jesus calls the Father 'Abba,' 'Father,' while He addresses Mary as 'mother,' placing in that name all His filial affection." John Paul II affirmed that when Jesus leaves His mother in Nazareth and later meets her again, He calls her "woman." He thus wishes to emphasize that "she is not just His biological mother, rather she has a mission to accomplish as 'daughter of Zion' and mother of the people of the 'New Covenant'."

After highlighting that the Virgin "is a model of one who listens and is compliant to the Word of God," the Pope recalled that "she took on the educational commitment implicit in the maternal role." Her behavior "surely exercised an influence on Jesus' conduct," while at the same time she allowed herself "to be influenced and formed by her Son."

The Pope concluded his catechesis emphasizing that the role fulfilled by Mary today is "to help the Church to follow, as she did, the footsteps of Christ."

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AUDIENCE

VATICAN CITY, JAN 5, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, apostolic nuncio in Poland.

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POPE TO CONSECRATE TWELVE NEW BISHOPS TOMORROW

VATICAN CITY, JAN 5, 2000 (VIS) - Tomorrow, John Paul II will consecrate twelve new bishops, thus bringing to 290 the number of episcopal ordinations conferred by him in the course of his pontificate.

The numerical record for ordinations fell in the year after his election as Pope when, on May 27, 1979, John Paul II ordained 26 bishops in a single ceremony.

On two occasions the Pope has celebrated episcopal ordinations outside the Vatican: Once in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where, on May 4, 1980, he consecrated eight bishops and once in Albania where, on April 25, 1993, four bishops were consecrated.

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APPEAL FOR PEACE IN THE MOLUCCAS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 5, 2000 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, which was held in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope made the following appeal for peace in the Moluccas:

"May Bethlehem's message of peace which, over the last few days, the Church has again proposed to the world, forcefully resound in those places tried by misfortune and war. (May it resound) especially in the Moluccas, where the ethnic and religious conflict which has been affecting those Indonesian islands for some time has recently flared up in the bloody conflicts of previous weeks.

"'Peace on earth to those whom God loves!' May this message, fixed in everyone's hearts, break the chain of reprisals, heal the wounds of hate and, distancing once and for all the temptation to violence, encourage Christians and Muslims to see themselves as members of the one human family and to reconstruct mutual harmonious relations, in justice and forgiveness."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 5, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Cardinal Rosalio Jose Castillo Lara S.D.B., former president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, as his special envoy to the second Regional Eucharistic Congress of the Antilles, which is scheduled to be held at Castries, St. Lucia, from May 18 to 20.

- Fr. Carillo Gritti I.M.C., pastor of the parish of "Santa Luzia", Manaus, Brazil, as bishop of the territorial prelature of Itacoatiara (area 83,012, population 118,695, Catholics 109,343, priests 12, religious 28), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Martinengo, Italy, in 1942 and ordained a priest in 1967.

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