ANGELUS: HOPE IN THE NEW MILLENIUM, DAY FOR LIFE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 4, 2001 (VIS) - At today's angelus, recited from his study window overlooking St. Peter's Square where the faithful had gathered to pray, Pope John Paul reflected on the need for Christians to "walk with hope in the new millennium." He also highlighted the Day for Life being celebrated in Italy.

Quoting St. Luke's Gospel, where Jesus preached to the crowds from Simon's boat, and told Simon: "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch," the Pope said that "this invitation by the Lord is the clear expression, almost the 'motto', of my Apostolic Letter 'Novo Millennio Euente - At the Start of the New Millennium'. ... As the Successor of Peter I feel the duty to echo these words of Christ to the entire Church. May Christ, who 'is the same yesterday, today and always', inspire every ecclesial community 'to put out into the deep' and to walk with hope in the new millennium, which opens before us as a vast ocean in which to venture forth."
"Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch," said the Holy Father. "I repeat (these words) to every bishop and to each diocesan community. This is a favorable moment for a new spiritual and pastoral thrust, not a foolish aspiration, but one based on the strong and profound experience of grace, lived in the Jubilee year."

After these words, and after praying the angelus with the faithful, John Paul II recalled that "today in Italy the 23rd Day for Life is being celebrated, an appointment to sensitize people to the value of human life and the dangers which unfortunately threaten it. I willingly join the Italian bishops who chose, as the theme of their message, 'Every child is word,' to remind people that every child is a word spoken to the parents, called to welcome it and to understand it, and it is also a word to society, to which it will contribute and from which it expects help in growing up."

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