CARDINAL TOMKO OPENS MISSIOLOGICAL CONGRESS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, gave the inaugural address yesterday afternoon at the International Missiological Congress at the Pontifical Urban University. Participants are meeting through October 20 on the theme "Who do you say that I am?"

Welcoming theologians and experts "who have come to offer their contribution and their experience of other religions," he began by referring to the question Jesus asked His disciples: "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" The cardinal observed that this question "implies an important suggestion: the answer of Christian faith must also take into consideration the search of those who do not share it. This was already the position of the Council when it invited the Church not to refuse what was true and holy in other religions."

Cardinal Tomko stated that, from the Council on, the Church has taught "that dialogue with other religions is part of the evangelizing mission of the Church."

The cardinal said that when Peter, asked by Jesus Who He was, "confessed his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus answered that this had been revealed by His "'Father Who is in heaven'. Here we have another important suggestion: this profession of faith is the work of grace."

Cardinal Tomko then underlined that, "while it encourages us to deepen this theme, 'since it is certainly useful for understanding better God's salvific plan and the ways in which it is accomplished', the recent document 'Dominus Iesus' warns against 'considering the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by other religions, seen as complementary to the Church, or substantially equivalent to her, even if these are said to be converging with the Church towards the eschatological kingdom of God. This warning does not place limits on God's salvific action but asks that it be considered globally."

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AUDIENCE: THE EUCHARIST, BANQUET OF COMMUNION WITH GOD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - In today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II spoke to 45,000 faithful on the theme: "The Eucharist: banquet of communion with God."

Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Pope recalled that the Eucharist is "at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the Cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood."

In the Eucharistic celebration, he said, we are invited "to celebrate the gift of the One who is offering and offered: participating in the holy mysteries, (we) become 'kinsmen' of Christ, anticipating the experience of divinization in the now inseparable bond linking divinity and humanity in Christ."

The Holy Father affirmed that "the Greek word for communion, 'koinonia,' appears in the reflections of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. ... This communion with Christ brings about an intimate transformation of the believer."

"By sharing in the sacrifice of the Cross, the Christian partakes of Christ's self-giving love and is equipped and committed to live this same charity in all his thoughts and deeds." The Pope concluded by indicating that "the path of sanctity, of love, of truth is, then, the revelation to the world of our divine intimacy, which is realized in the banquet of the Eucharist."

In his greetings to Italian-speaking pilgrims, the Pope made mention of the people of northern Italy, recently struck by flooding: "I am particularly thinking of the Val d'Aosta, so dear to me, and of the vast areas of Piedmont that have suffered such damage." He gave assurance that he would pray "at the altar of the Lord, especially for victims and their families, for those who have lost their houses and for all those who are suffering because of this natural disaster."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal James Aloysius Hickey, archbishop of Washington, United States.

This evening he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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START OF ACADEMIC YEAR AT ECCLESIASTICAL UNIVERSITIES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - The Pope will give a homily and impart his blessing during a Eucharistic concelebration to mark the start of the academic year at ecclesiastical universities. The Mass is to take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 20 in St. Peter's Basilica and will be presided by Archbishop Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

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HOLY SEE SIGNS PROTOCOLS TO CONVENTION ON CHILD'S RIGHTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - Published this morning was a communique stating that on October 10, Archbishop Renato R. Martino, apostolic nuncio and permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, signed two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: the first on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, of May 25, 2000, and the second on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, also of May 25, 2000.

The signing took place at a ceremony in the Office of Legal Affairs at U.N. headquarters in New York, in the presence of Palitha Kohona, chief of the Treaty Section of the U.N. The communique states that "Mr. Kohona, expressing his pleasure at the prompt signing of the above Protocols by the Holy See, informed Archbishop Martino that, as of October 10, 70 States have signed and 3 States have ratified the Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflicts, and that 64 States have signed and 1 State has ratified the Optional Protocol for the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Aizawl, India, presented by Bishop Denzil Reginald D'Souza in conformity with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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