CARDINAL MARTINEZ SOMALO TO TAKE POSSESSION OF TITULAR CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, will take possession of the title of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, a diaconate raised "pro hac vice" to presbyteral title, in Piazza del Gesu in Rome on Sunday, June 4 at 11 a.m.

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NEW EVANGELIZATION CONTINUES TO BE A PASTORAL PRIORITY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from the Holy Father to Italian bishops who are taking part in the 47th General Assembly of the Episcopal Conference in Collevalenza, Italy. The meeting is focussing on pastoral guidelines for the Church in Italy over the next ten years.

The Pope writes that new evangelization "is certainly the pastoral priority for Italy, as for many other nations with a great and ancient Christian tradition that are under attack from the currents of secularization and de-Christianization."

One tool of evangelization, he confirms, are "the social communications media. I trust these will become further consolidated as they give Italian Catholics the possibility to be daily present in the exchange of opinions and in the proposal of models of behavior, indispensable in today's society of 'global communication'."

John Paul II expresses his support for the Italian bishops' commitment "in favor of the marriage-based family, true pillar of social life in Italy. In the face of the grave and persistent drop in births that threatens the future of this nation, it is especially important that the ecclesial community's formative work unite with political and legislative choices in order to promote the endorsement of human life and the respect of its inalienable dignity."

The Holy Father recalls the national assembly of Catholic schools, celebrated on October 30 1999, "in which, together with many young people, parents and teachers, we asked for full scholastic parity" (juridic and economic) between State and non- State schools.

After highlighting that, "together with the family and education, work is justly at the center of your concerns and mine," he refers to the need to face the persisting inequalities in this field, "evaluating this country's great initiative, in the light of the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity."

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POPE LUNCHES AT THE PONTIFICAL MEXICAN COLLEGE

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - Yesterday, the Pope was invited to lunch at Rome's Pontifical Mexican College to celebrate the canonization of 27 Mexican Blesseds in St. Peter's Square on May 21.

After the luncheon, John Paul II greeted the cardinals, archbishops and bishops present, as well as the rector and students.

The Holy Father thanked the superiors for "their work of orientation and spiritual guidance of the student priests. I also thank the Daughters of the Poor, Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who quietly and together with lay people, make it possible for this priestly community to live as a family and for their communal life to be regulated by a healthy and happy fraternal atmosphere."

"It is my wish," he concluded, "that the college may continue to foster a suitable atmosphere, one that allows you to deepen and broaden your academic and spiritual formation, so necessary for the priestly ministry, which is the principal reason for your stay here."

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EXHIBITION ON STS. PETER AND PAUL

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office at 11:30 a.m. on Friday May 26, there will be the presentation of the exhibition entitled "Peter and Paul. History, Worship, Memory in the First Centuries." The exhibit will run from June 30 to December 10 in Rome's chancellory building.

Taking part in the presentation will be Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, secretary general of the Committee for the Great Jubilee 2000; Bishop Stanislaw Rylko, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Francesco Buranelli, director of the Pontifical Monuments, Museums and Galleries.

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SEMINAR ON "PROMOTING HUMAN DIGNITY IN OCEANIA"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - The Third Continental Seminar promoted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on the theme "Promoting Human Dignity in Oceania" is currently underway in Melbourne, Australia, according to a communique published today by this council.

The 150 participants, including 10 archbishops and bishops, priests, religious and laity, come from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The communique states that "the themes that are being treated regard in a special way the major ethical questions implied in the processes of economic and financial globalization and the need for a new re-proposal of values of social justice and of solidarity."

Archbishop Francois Xavier Van Thuan and Bishop Diarmuid Martin, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, are also participating in the seminar. Work concludes tomorrow with a report on globalization by Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, U.S.A.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Erected the diocese of Bongaigaon (area 13,630, population 5,242,716, Catholics 61,024, priests 26, religious 77), India, with territory taken from the archdiocese of Guwahati, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan church. He appointed Fr. Thomas Pulloppillil, of the clergy of Tezpur, India, administrator of Guwahati, as first bishop of the new diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Nadukani, India, in 1954 and ordained a priest in 1981.

- Appointed Fr. John Thattunkal S.S.C., rector of the Cottolengo Minor Seminary at Nagar, as bishop of Cochin (area 235, population 648,355, Catholics 164,714, priests 91, religious 443), India. The bishop-elect was born in Vallethodu, India, in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1974.

- Appointed Bishop Patrick Le Gal of Tulle, France, as military ordinary of France.

- Appointed Fr. Rainer Klug of the clergy of Freiburg im Breisgau (area 16,229, population 4,450,000, Catholics 2,160,650, priests 1,432, permanent deacons 158, religious 3,193), Germany, dean of the "Mittlerer Oberrhein-Pforzheim" region and administrator of the parish of St. Francis at Karlsruhe, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect was born in Costanza, Germany, in 1938 and ordained a priest in 1969.

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