JOHN PAUL II: "DRUGS ARE NEVER A SOLUTION"

VATICAN CITY, OCT 20, 2000 (VIS) - The Pope today received 35,000 participants in the Jubilee pilgrimage of the "Encounter Community" whose members are young people who have recovered from drug addiction. Prior to the audience, they took part in a Mass, celebrated by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray in St. Peter's Square.

After greeting Fr. Pierino Gelmini, who founded the community in Rome 37 years ago, the Holy Father said: "With special affection, I embrace you, dear young people living in the Encounter Community's centers, who are on the path to spiritual and physical rebirth following the melancholy experience of drugs."
He went on: "I happily take advantage of this opportunity to repeat to those of you present here, and to all people throughout the world involved in the struggle against drugs and for life: the Church is with you, she walks at your side!"

John Paul II recalled the Church's frequent affirmation that "taking drugs is never a solution. She intends to underline this conviction forcefully in the face of opinions that seek the liberalization of narcotic substances or, at least, their partial legalization on the grounds that free access to such substances contributes to limiting or reducing the harm to individuals and society."

"Drugs," he added, "cannot be combatted with drugs. ... (They) are frequently the consequence of interior emptiness: they are a refusal, a rejection, a loss of orientation that often leads to desperation. This is why drugs cannot be overcome with drugs, what is needed is widespread preventative activity."

The Pope gave thanks to those who help people get off of drugs and who remain close to families that suffer such situations.

Prior to concluding, he also expressed his thanks for "the two gifts that Fr. Pierino has given me in your name: the opening of new centers in New York and in Kazakhstan and this beautiful statue of the Risen Christ. The Risen Jesus indicates to all of you that in Him it is possible to look to the future with renewed trust."

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POPE WELCOMES NEW AMBASSADOR FROM IVORY COAST

VATICAN CITY, OCT 20, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul II this morning welcomed the new ambassador to the Holy See from the Ivory Coast, Louis Esmel, who presented his Letters of Credence and, in his address to the Pope, congratulated him upon the 22nd anniversary of his election to the See of Peter.

The Pope, in his speech to the ambassador, greeted the leaders and people of the nation, and recalled that "since becoming independent, the Ivory Coast has shown how attached it is to its long tradition of fraternity and hospitality. Today, as new problems present themselves to the nation, it would be fitting for it to preserve this heritage and consolidate its unity. The use of violence to settle differences can only lead to reinforcing divisions and tensions and to threatening, in the long run, social organization. Peace is a priceless treasure which, to be fully preserved, demands that the building of a society be based on the principles of equity, truth, justice and solidarity."

He then highlighted the importance of "two indivisible and interdependent rights: the right to peace and the right to integral development marked by solidarity."

The Holy Father, pointing to the Church's commitment to and role in human societies, said that she "hopes to contribute to building a united and fraternal national community, ... to favor relations of trust and to seek ways of an authentic reconciliation among all the inhabitants of a country. For that to happen, there must be a climate of dialogue which is respectful of legitimate differences, because the growth of ethnic or religious animosity is a serious threat to peace and unity and goes against God's plans for mankind."

"The Church," said John Paul II in concluding remarks, "invites leaders in the public sphere to an ever greater and more authentic awareness of moral values. ... These universal values, such as respect for all human life and its dignity, solidarity and a sense of the common good, the fraternal welcoming of foreigners, are especially dear to the African peoples."

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IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, OCT 20, 2000 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

- Cardinal Pietro Palazzini, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, on October 11 aged 88.
- Cardinal Egano Righi-Lambertini, former apostolic nuncio, on October 4 aged 94.
- Bishop Jose Eduardo Alvarez Ramirez C.M., emeritus of San Miguel, El Salvador, on October 10 aged 78.
- Bishop Teodoro Luis Arroyo Robelly S.D.B., former apostolic vicar of Mendez, Ecuador, on October 13 aged 71.
- Bishop Antonio Eduardo Bosl O.F.M., apostolic vicar of Nuflo de Chavez, Bolivia, on October 13 aged 75.
- Bishop Alejandro Figueroa Medina of Guanare, Venezuela, on September 29 aged 75.
- Archbishop Emmanuel Kataliko of Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on October 4 aged 68.
- Bishop Ignatius Pak Sok-hi of Andong, Korea, on October 9 aged 59.
- Archbishop John Joseph Thomas Ryan, former military ordinary to the United States, on October 9 aged 86.
- Bishop Victor Sartre S.J., former archbishop of Antananarivo, Madagascar, on October 13 aged 98.
- Archbishop Luciano Storero, apostolic nuncio in Ireland, on October 1 aged 74.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 20, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Archbishop Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, accompanied by Archbishop Giuseppe Pittau S.J. and Msgr. Giuseppe Baldanza, respectively secretary and under-secretary of the same congregation.

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