NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM COLLABORATING IN MISSIONARY WORK

VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was the Holy Father's message for World Mission Day which will be held on October 22. In his message he recalls that "no one can consider themselves exempt from offering their collaboration to the development of Christ's mission that continues in the Church."

In the message, dated June 11, Solemnity of Pentecost, the Pope also especially recalls "so many missionaries, martyrs of the faith who, like Christ, gave their lives and spilled their blood. ... May these witnesses of faith, whom we have remembered, be a model and stimulus for all Christians, so that the announcement of Christ be perceived by each Christian as their own duty."

"The perspective of the Great Jubilee," he continues, "induces us to a greater 'ad gentes' missionary commitment. Two thousand years after the start of the mission, there still remain vast geographical, cultural, human and social areas in which Christ and His Gospel have not yet penetrated. How can we not hear the appeal that arises from such situations?"

John Paul II has some particular words for catechists in mission lands: "Working with great missionary strength and zeal, without doubt they constitute the most efficient support for missionaries in many fields. Not infrequently, because of the scarcity of ministers, they have responsibility for vast areas where they follow small communities and carry out the role of animators in prayer, in liturgical celebrations of the Word of God, in explaining doctrine and in organizing charity."

At the end of his message, the Holy Father highlights that "we participate in the mission above all through prayer - in the liturgy and in the quiet of our own room - through sacrifice and with the offer of our own sufferings to God. This is the primary collaboration that each of us can give. It is also important not to avoid an economic contribution, vital for so many local Churches."

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RELATIONS BETWEEN HOLY SEE AND COMMUNIST STATES (1963 - 1989)

VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2000 (VIS) - Today in the Holy See Press Office, Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano and Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, presented the memoirs of the late Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, former secretary of State. The volume is entitled "The Martyrdom of Patience" and deals with relations between the Holy See and Communist States between 1963 and 1989.

Also taking part in the event were Mikhail Gorbachev, former Russian president; Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission and Lamberto Dini, Italian foreign minister.

Cardinal Sodano explained that he the then met Msgr. Casaroli in 1960 and that, between 1968 and 1978, had occasion to assist him on a number of diplomatic missions. The book, he added, "reveals to us the great passion of his life: supporting Catholics in the Communist States and thus also contributing to bringing a new breath of liberty to their countries. Not for nothing did Pope John XXIII recall in those years that freedom is one of the four mainstays on which human co-existence is founded. In reality, such co-existence can be organized and fruitful only when founded on the columns of truth, justice, love and the equally important pillar of liberty."

The prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches observed that "The Martyrdom of Patience" is the fruit of the considerations to which Cardinal Casaroli dedicated the last years of his life. The book is "a narrative of relations between the Holy See and the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. It is a placid, attentive and judicious account; faithful to the facts and honest in documenting them while not seeking to hide difficulties and objections."

Former Russian President Gorbachev recalled that John Paul II's view that Europe must breathe with both lungs "is an idea that has not lost its strength, indeed, it continues to have great meaning." He affirmed that the words of the present Pope, when he said that the new European Order must be founded on greater stability and justice and on a more human world, "give rise to great emotion when I reiterate them in my journeys around the world."

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DECLARATIONS BY HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE DIRECTOR

VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2000 (VIS) - Yesterday, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declarations:

"Today, June 26, Hung-Mao Tien, minister for foreign affairs of the Republic of China, came to the Vatican.

"Mr. Tien was received by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano and by Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States.

"The talks provided the occasion for an exchange of opinions on recent developments in Taiwan following the presidential elections of last March, as well as on the political situation in the region.
"Mr. Tien also had words of appreciation for the Catholic Church's work in support of the human and spiritual development of the people of Taiwan."

"His Holiness John Paul II today received in private audience Atal Behari Vajapayee, prime minister of India.

"In the course of their conversation, the Holy Father once again underlined the importance of freedom of religion. He also recalled India's traditions of religious tolerance, unfortunately gravely damaged by the recent acts of violence of which Christians have been the victims, in particular the Catholic Church."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Ghennadi Nikolaevich Selezniov, president of the Duma (Russian parliament), accompanied by an entourage.
- Archbishop-bishop Javier Lozano Barragan, emeritus of Zacatecas, Mexico, president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers.
- Mikhail Sergeevic Gorbachev.
- Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, accompanied by an entourage.

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