TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF JOHN PAUL II FOUNDATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 23, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received this morning in the Paul VI Hall 500 members of the John Paul II Foundation, mostly from Poland, and also other countries, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Foundation's institution.

"When I instituted the Foundation twenty years ago," the Pope recalled, "I desired that a vast cultural, scientific, social, and pastoral activity be undertaken. I wished a milieux to be formed which would support and deepen the tie between the Apostolic See and the Polish nation, and which would oversee the spreading in the world of the patrimony of the Christian culture and of the teaching of the Church."

John Paul II recalled that every year the Council of the Foundation presents to him "a detailed report of its activities. I know therefore that, thanks to the initiatives of the Foundation's thirty-six Groups of Friends of the Foundation in fourteen countries, and thanks to the generosity of thousands of people of good will throughout the world, a fund was instituted, which guarantees the functioning of four important institutions: the Polish House in Rome, the Center of Documentation of the Pontificate, the Institute of Christian Culture and the House of the John Paul II Foundation in Lublin. ... The Polish House and the Center of Documentation form the material and spiritual basis for the activity of the Institute of Christian Culture in Rome."

"The initiative, for which perhaps we must rejoice the most, is the scholarship fund for the youth of central and eastern Europe and other countries of the former Soviet Union."

The Holy Father concluded his discourse, saying, "My thanks goes to those who during these twenty years have in some way supported the activity of the Foundation and to those who guide such activity with wisdom and dedication."

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