AUDIENCE: COOPERATION IN THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, DEC 6, 2000 (VIS) - In today's general audience, which was held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 30,000 people, the Pope spoke on: "Cooperation in the coming of the Kingdom of God in the world."

John Paul II said that the Kingdom is "the effective but mysterious action that God works in the universe and in the tangle of human affairs. He overcomes the resistance of evil with patience, not with clamor and arrogance. ... The Kingdom is grace and love of God for the world, our source of serenity and trust."

"Nonetheless," he went on, "man is not a passive witness of God's entrance into history. Jesus invites us to 'seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,' and to make this search our principal concern."

The Holy Father emphasized that we are all called to cooperate in the coming of the Kingdom of God in the world, especially those "who are called to the apostolate."

He added: "The people who have chosen the way of the evangelical Beatitudes - the 'poor in spirit' - enter the Kingdom." Those "who bear the suffering of life with love" also enter, as do "the pure of heart who select the path of justice, that is, of adherence to God's will. ... The just of the earth, even those who do not know Christ and His Church, but who under the influence of grace seek God with a sincere heart, are, then, called to build the Kingdom of God, collaborating with the Lord, Who is its first and supreme Architect."

John Paul II concluded by encouraging everyone to invoke "'Thy Kingdom come!' An invocation that in the history of humanity has been raised to heaven so many times as a great breath of hope."

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POPE THANKS POLISH PILGRIMS FOR CHRISTMAS TREES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 6, 2000 (VIS) - The Pope today, at the end of the general audience in St. Peter's Square, welcomed pilgrims from Poland, including postal workers from several Polish towns and cities and a group from Zakopane who, he recalled "have brought your gifts, as you do every year. Among these are the beautiful Christmas trees, the fir trees from the Zakopane forests."

"I am delighted at your presence," John Paul II went on, "which constantly reminds me of Podhale, the beautiful mountains of Tatra and the rich traditions of mountain people. As I look at you many memories come to my mind, linked with various places that I once visited. Thank you for this encounter, I am grateful that you recall the Pope with such fidelity. May the Lord recompense you for your visit and for your music and song which is so moving."
"To all my fellow Poles here present," the Pope concluded, "I hope for divine blessings for the Advent period and for the Birth of the Lord which is nearing."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 6, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. The cardinal was accompanied by Archbishop Csaba Ternyak and Msgr. Mauro Piacenza, secretary and under-secretary of the same Congregation.

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PRESS CONFERENCE TO PRESENT JUBILEE OF ENTERTAINMENT WORLD

VATICAN CITY, DEC 6, 2000 (VIS) - On Tuesday, December 12, at 11:30 a.m. in the Holy See Press Office Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the central committee for the Jubilee, will preside at a conference for the presentation of the Jubilee of the Entertainment World.

Among those joining him will be Archbishops Crescenzio Sepe, secretary general of the committee, and John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Bishop Pierfranco Pastore, secretary of this council, Msgr. Piergiorgio Saviola, national director for the pastoral ministry to circus people and those in entertainment parks, and Goffredo Lombardo, president of Titanus Studios.

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