ARCHBISHOP PAUL CORDES OF "COR UNUM" VISITS BELGRADE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 4, 2001 (VIS) - Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes leaves today for Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where he will meet the Catholic bishops and aid organizations and "help lay the bases for a new thrust for the work of the Catholic Church in the fields of assistance, education, health and social development." He will also meet Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic before his June 5 departure.

The president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," states a council communique, "had already been sent twice in 1999 by Pope John Paul II to Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo with the scope of contributing to the creation of a 'humanitarian corridor' to meet the primary emergencies caused by the war. The Holy See, together with the entire Church, has never ceased taking care of the needs of the inhabitants of Serbia and Montenegro by sending aid materials and especially persons who, collaborating with the local populations, have begun reconstruction. Among the most committed Catholic organizations we must mention Italian Caritas."

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