ROMANS ASKED: "OPEN YOUR HOMES AND HEARTS TO YOUNG PEOPLE"

VATICAN CITY, MAR 2, 2000 (VIS) - In a letter sent to 1.5 million Roman families, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar for the diocese of Rome, called on them to "open your homes with simplicity, a few square meters for a sleeping bag, and a smile for the young pilgrims of World Youth Day."

"Rome is a great city, most especially because it has a heart filled with hospitality," says the letter. "Next summer Rome will be the youngest city in the world. Let us open our homes to make these young people feel at home." A form to be filled out by families interested in hosting young people accompanied the letter.
World Youth Day takes place in Rome from August 14 to 20. It has been estimated that between one and two million young people from around the world will take part.

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POPE WELCOMES EQUESTRIAN ORDER OF HOLY SEPULCHRE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 2, 2000 (VIS) - Just before noon today in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father received 3,000 knights, dames and ecclesiastics of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, who are in Rome on their Jubilee pilgrimage.

The order was founded in 1099 as an honor guard for the Holy Sepulchre, the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. Following a period of trials, when the knights had to withdraw from the Holy Land, the order was re-established in 1847 by Pope Pius IX, as John Paul II recalled in his talk today. Pius IX also re-established the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem that year.

John Paul II pointed out that the most significant change made by Pius IX was that "the custody of the Tomb of Christ would no longer be entrusted to the force of arms, but rather to the value of a constant witness of faith and solidarity towards Christians residing in the Holy Places."

He spoke of "the specific service to the Holy Land, which is proper to your Order. This is an important mission: thanks to your generous spiritual and charitable commitment in favor of the Holy Places and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, much has been able to be done to make the best use of the precious patrimony of historical witnesses which are preserved in the Holy Land."

"The Holy Year," Pope John Paul then remarked, "finds each of you intent on developing and deepening the three virtues which mark your order: 'zeal in renouncement in the midst of a society of abundance, generous commitment for the weak and unprotected and a courageous battle for justice and peace."

"In a few weeks," he concluded, "God willing, I will also have the grace of visiting the Holy Sepulchre. I can thus pray at the place where Christ offered His life and then received it back in the Resurrection. ... I am counting on your prayers for this pilgrimage. ... I entrust all of you to the motherly protection of Our Lady Queen of Palestine."

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IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, MAR 2, 2000 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

- Bishop Guillermo Alvaro Ortiz Carrillo of Garagoa, Colombia, on February 24 at the age of 75.
- Bishop Anthony Reiterer, M.C.C.I., emeritus of Lydenburg-Witbank, South Africa, on February 20 at the age of 91.
- Bishop Paul Verschuren, S.C.I., emeritus of Helsinki, Finland, on February 19 at the age of 74.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 2, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Salim El Hoss, prime minister and foreign minister of Lebanon.
- Cardinal James Aloysius Hickey, archbishop of Washington, U.S.A.
- Archbishop Edmond Farhat, apostolic nuncio in Slovenia and in the ex-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
- Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, dean of the College of Cardinals.

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