POPE PRAYS ANGELUS WITH FAITHFUL IN ST. PETER'S SQUARE

VATICAN CITY, DEC 29, 2000 (VIS) - The Pope today appeared at the window of his private study in order to pray the angelus and bless the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, most of whom were queuing to enter the basilica by the Holy Door. Today's appearance, like that of yesterday and the day before, was unscheduled.

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CARDINAL RATZINGER: LEGACY OF ABRAHAM, GIFT OF CHRISTMAS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 29, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was an article written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which appeared in L'Osservatore Romano under the title "The legacy of Abraham, gift of Christmas."

The cardinal explains that at Christmas we exchange gifts in order to share in the joy "that the choir of angels announced to the shepherds, thus recalling the gift par excellence that God granted to humanity in giving us His Son Jesus Christ."

The history of the relationship between man and God begins with the faith of Abraham, father of the people of Israel, father of believers "and our father in faith." It is the duty of the chosen people, writes the cardinal, "to give their God, the one and true God, to other peoples, indeed in reality, we Christians are the heirs to their faith in the one God." Consequently, our gratitude must go out "to our Jewish brothers who, despite the difficulties of their history, have maintained to the present day their faith in this God, and who bear witness to it before other peoples."

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith highlights that "right from the start, relations between the nascent Church and Israel were often conflictory. ... In the history of Christianity, these already difficult relations degenerated further, in many cases even giving rise to anti-Jewish attitudes that produced deplorable acts of violence in the course of history. Even if the last abhorrent experience, the 'Shoah,' was perpetrated in the name of an anti-Christian ideology that sought to strike the Christian faith at its Abrahamic roots - in the people of Israel - it cannot be denied that a certain measure of insufficient resistance to these atrocities on the part of Christians is explained by the anti-Jewish legacy present in the souls of no small number of Christians.

"Perhaps because of the dramatic nature of this last tragedy, a new vision of the relationship between the Church and Israel has arisen, a sincere desire to overcome all types of anti-Jewish feeling and to begin a constructive dialogue of mutual knowledge and reconciliation." In order for this dialogue to bear fruit, God must grant Christians "greater respect and love towards this people, the people of Israel," and at the same time He must grant that people "greater knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth, their son and the gift they gave to us."

Cardinal Ratzinger concludes his article by affirming that all we have and do "is a gift of God, obtained by humble and sincere prayer, a gift that must be shared between ethnic groups, between religions in search of the divine mystery, between nations seeking peace and peoples who wish to found a society in which peace and love reign supreme."

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HOLY FATHER'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR JANUARY 2001

VATICAN CITY, DEC 29, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father's general prayer intention for January 2001 is: "That Christians may favor the evangelization of the new generations through the constant search for the unity wanted by Christ."

His missionary intention is: "That through civil and religious education every form of intolerance and discrimination may be uprooted all over the world."

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MONETARY CONVENTION BETWEEN HOLY SEE AND ITALY

VATICAN CITY, DEC 29, 2000 (VIS) - At midday today, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration:

"Today, December 29 2000, in the late morning at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a monetary convention was signed between the Holy See and Italy, on behalf of the European Community, following the introduction of the euro as the single currency.

"In the name of the Holy See (as a representative of Vatican City State) the convention was signed by Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States, while Lamberto Dini, Italian foreign minister, signed on behalf of Italy.

"The convention establishes the right of Vatican City State to use the Euro as its own official currency. As regards the introduction of notes and coins in euro, Vatican City State undertakes to follow the same calendar as that laid down for the Italian Republic."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 29, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Erected the diocese of Lafia (area 28,500, population 1,510,000, Catholics 72,000, priests 27, religious 21), Nigeria, with territory taken from the archdiocese of Jos and from the diocese of Makurdi, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Abuja. He appointed Fr. Matthew Ishaya Audu, rector "pro tempore" of the St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary of Makurdi, as first bishop of the new diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Tudu Uku, Nigeria, in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1984.

- Erected the diocese of Zaria (area 18,000, population 1,750,000, Catholics 64,941, priests 20), Nigeria, with territory taken from the archdiocese of Kaduna, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan church. He appointed Fr. George Dodo, pastor of the parish of Our Lady in Kaduna, as first bishop of the new diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Zuturung Mago, Nigeria, in 1956 and ordained a priest in 1983.
- Appointed Fr. James Naanman Daman O.S.A., vice-provincial of the vice-province of the Augustinian Fathers in Nigeria, as bishop of Jalingo (area 61,368, population 1,946,156, Catholics 199,252, priests 35, religious 35), Nigeria. The bishop-elect was born in Kwa, Nigeria, in 1956 and ordained a priest in 1982.

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