OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 19, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Jose Haring O.F.M., pastor of the parish of St. Anthony in Aracaju, Brazil, as bishop of Limoeiro do Norte (area 18,316, population 556,000, Catholics 525,000, priests 28, religious 73), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Gronau, Germany, in 1940 and ordained a priest in 1967.

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PAPAL MESSAGE FOR WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY 2000

VATICAN CITY, JAN 19, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul's Message for the 34th World Communications Day will be presented in the Holy See Press Office on Monday, January 24, at 11:30 a.m. by Archbishop John Foley and Bishop Pierfranco Pastore, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The theme of the message is: "Announcing Christ in the Media at the Dawn of the New Millennium."

The jubilee celebrations for journalists and for those involved in the entertainment industry will also be presented that day during the press conference.

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THE POPE INVITES US TO REFLECT ON THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 19, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father's catechesis today was the first in a series on the contemplation of the mystery of God. This theme is in keeping with the Apostolic Letter "Tertio millennio adveniente" where the Pope wrote that the aim of the celebration of this Jubilee year is "to give glory to the Trinity, from whom everything in the world and in history comes and to whom everything returns."

Speaking to the faithful gathered in the Paul VI Hall for the general audience, the Pope said: "Drawing inspiration from an image of the Book of the Apocalypse, we can compare this task to the journey of a pilgrim along the banks of the river of God, in other words, of His presence and His revelation in the history of men."

John Paul II said that today "we will consider the two extremities of that river, the source and the estuary, uniting them in a single horizon. The Holy Trinity lies at the very roots of existence and of history and is present in their final culmination. It constitutes the beginning and the end of the history of salvation. Between the two extremes" the vicissitudes of life take place, marked by sin and by grace.

"The mystery of the Trinity," he went on, "far from being a dry and intellectual truth, is life that abides within us and sustains us. In this Jubilee year, our reflections spring from this trinitarian life which precedes and lays the foundation for the creation."

The Pope added that God "is love in His innermost life, where the trinitarian energy is precisely the expression of the eternal love with which the Father begets the Son and both of Them mutually give Themselves in the Holy Spirit. This is love in relation to the world."

He concluded: "If the eyes of our heart, illuminated by the revelation, become sufficiently pure and penetrating, they become capable of finding, within the faith, this mystery in which everything that exists has its roots and foundation."

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