CONCILIAR TEACHING REQUIRES EVER DEEPER KNOWLEDGE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 27, 2000 (VIS) - After praying the angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope went to the Synod Hall where he met participants in the international congress on the implementation of the measures of Vatican Council II.

In his closing speech to the congress, which was held in the Vatican from February 25 to 27, John Paul II stated that "it is only in the perspective of faith that the council opens before our eyes as a gift from which we must know how to draw the wealth that still remains concealed."

The Holy Father indicated that conciliar teaching "requires ever deeper knowledge, ... (as well as the) overcoming of prejudiced and partial interpretations that have prevented the novelty of the conciliar magisterium being fully expressed."

After recalling the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen gentium" that was, he said, "a true song of praise to the beauty of the Spouse of Christ," he added: "The 'communio' is the foundation on which the reality of the Church stands. A 'koinonia' whose source is the very mystery of the Triune God and which extends to all the baptized who, as a consequence, are called to full unity in Christ."

"The fact will have escaped no one that, with great vitality, Vatican Council II made this 'ecumenical' longing its own. The movement of encounter and clarification that has begun between all baptized brothers and sisters, is irreversible. ... The communion that the Church lives with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is a sign of how brothers and sisters are called to live together."

John Paul II concluded: "A new season opens before us. It is the time to study conciliar teaching in depth, the time to reap what was sowed by the council fathers and anticipated by the present generation. Vatican Ecumenical Council II was a true prophecy for Church life. It will continue to be so for many years of this third millennium that has just begun."

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ANGELUS REFLECTIONS ON TRIP TO EGYPT, VISIT TO MOUNT SINAI

VATICAN CITY, FEB 27, 2000 (VIS) - Before praying the angelus today, Pope John Paul greeted the thousands of faithful gathered below his study window in St. Peter's Square, and reflected on his just-completed pilgrimage to Egypt and what he called its "climax, ... the ascent to Mount Sinai."

He specifically thanked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian authorities, His Holiness Shenouda III, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Greek-Orthodox Archbishop Damianos and the monks of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, and Grand Sheikh Sayed Tantawi of Al-Azhar, head of the Muslim community in Egypt.

The Holy Father then underscored the important moments of his pilgrimage, which concluded Saturday evening with his return to Rome. He spoke of the Mass in Cairo's sports arena, attended by members of all of the Churches present in Egypt, and of the "meaningful ecumenical encounter" on Friday, saying "it pleases me to underline how profitable the dialogue with the Coptic Orthodox Church proved to be."

"The focal point of my trip," he affirmed, "was the ancient monastery of St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai. There, in a simple but moving ceremony, I was able to commemorate the moment in which God, speaking from the burning bush, revealed His name - 'I Am' - to Moses, as well as the moment when He gave the People the Covenant based on the Decalogue. In the Ten Commandments we see reflected the basic precepts of the natural law. The Ten Commandments indicate the path for a fully human life. Outside of them there is no future of serenity and peace for persons, families and nations."

After the Pope and the faithful prayed the angelus, John Paul II greeted "with affection the leaders and members of the Centesimus Annus-Pro Pontefice Foundation, which yesterday dedicated an intense day to the study of the complex question of the relationship between ethics and finance."

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MARCH 1-4: JUBILEE OF THE ORDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 28, 2000 (VIS) - From March 1 to 4, 3,500 knights, dames and ecclesiastics from all over the world, belonging to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, will celebrate their Jubilee in Rome.

The participants will arrive on March 1 and the following day John Paul II will receive them in audience in the Paul VI Hall. That evening, there will be a pilgrimage to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. On Friday March 3, Cardinal Furno, grand master of the order, will celebrate a Mass at St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls and, in the afternoon, will preside at a Liturgy of the Word in the Basilica of St. John Lateran. At midday on Saturday March 4, the cardinal will celebrate Mass at the papal altar in St. Peter's Basilica. The Viennese court choir will give a rendition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Coronation Mass" KV 317 in D major.

The charitable aim of the order, which was created at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1099, is to ensure regular support through prayer and good works to the Christian communities in the Holy Land. Thanks to contributions from the almost 20,000 knights and dames, the order largely meets the needs of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem: maintenance of the clergy and upkeep of the patriarchal seminary and the parish schools, the latter frequented by more than 15,000 pupils. Among its social initiatives are support for professional schools and the granting of loans for the setting up of agricultural and artisan projects. Leadership and coordination of the order's activities is the responsibility of the grand master, Cardinal Carlo Furno, who is assisted in his task by the grand magistrature (government) made up of members from various countries.

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SYNOD COUNCIL FOR AMERICA MEETS FOR FIFTH TIME

VATICAN CITY, FEB 28, 2000 (VIS) - The Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops for the Special Assembly for America held its fifth meeting in the Vatican on February 23-24, under the presidency of Cardinal Jan P. Schotte, C.I.C.M, secretary general of the synod. Three cardinals, seven archbishops, two bishops and four secretariat staff members were present.

The meeting was principally dedicated to an analysis of the answers to questionnaires addressed to episcopal conferences and all dicasteries of the Roman Curia on the application of the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia in America," according to a communique from the Synod of Bishops.

"From the talks," says the communique, "what has emerged is a rich, articulate panorama of the various churches in North, Central and South America, of their adhesion to the spirit and letter of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation, through pastoral programs and catechetical texts inspired by the document, meetings, conferences and study symposiums."

"Of particular note was the unanimous consent concerning the name which the exhortation used for the continent, using the term 'America' in the singular, as a sign of the geographical and Christian unity of the entire region."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 28, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Bishop Mogale Paul Nkhumishe of Witbank, South Africa, as bishop of Pietersburg (area 69,533, population 1,062,000, Catholics 124,900, priests 24, permanent deacons 9, religious 93), South Africa. He succeeds Bishop Fulgence Werner Le Roy O.S.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having received the age limit.

On Saturday, February 26, it was made public that he:

- Appointed Father Patrick Harrington S.M.A., former superior general of the Society of African Missions and presently professor at the Consolata Missionaries' philosophical institute in Nairobi, Kenya, as bishop of Lodwar (area 70,000, population 250,000, Catholics 23,000, priests 28, religious 48), Kenya. The bishop-elect was born in Kimeague, Ireland, in 1939 and ordained a priest in 1964. He succeeds Bishop John Christopher Mahon S.P.S., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese, the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Elevated the apostolic prefecture of Tierradentro, Colombia, to the rank of apostolic vicariate, with the same name and territorial configuration. The Holy Father appointed Fr. Jorge Garcia Isaza C.M., apostolic prefect of the same ecclesiastical circumscription, as first apostolic vicar of Tierradentro. The bishop-elect was born at Manizales, Colombia, in 1928 and ordained a priest in 1954.

- Appointed Fr. Evarist Pinto, pastor of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Karachi (area 180,000, population 10,000,000, Catholics 140,197, priests 58, religious 236), Pakistan, as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect was born at Goa, India, in 1933 and ordained a priest in 1968.

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