VATICAN CITY PARISH TO SPONSOR MEETINGS ON THE LAITY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 10, 2001 (VIS) - The pastoral community of Vatican City's St. Anne Parish is sponsoring a series of meetings on "Catholic Laity in Service to the Church." The meetings are all at 5 p.m. and will take place in the Sala del Buon Consiglio in Via del Pellegrino in Vatican City.

The first encounter will be held today, May 10. Guzman Carriquiry, under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, will speak on "Laity for the Third Millennium: Witnesses, Prophets, Missionaries."

On Tuesday, May 15, Prof. Giuseppe Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, rector of LUMSA University, will speak on "The Legal, Social and Humanitarian Aspects of Catholic Volunteer Work." On Thursday, May 17, Mario Agnes, director of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, will address the topic of "The Lay Person in the Church and in the World in the Light of Vatican Council II."

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POPE FLIES OVER ISLAND WHERE ST. PAUL WAS SHIPWRECKED

VATICAN CITY, MAY 9, 2001 (VIS) - Civil and religious authorities, including Maltese President Guido Di Marco and Archbishop Joseph Merceica, were at the Gudja International Airport early this evening for a farewell ceremony for the Holy Father. This was John Paul II's second apostolic visit to this island. When he came in May 1990, he was the first Pope ever to visit Malta.

In remarks to the dignitaries and to the Maltese people, he said that, "as the Successor of Peter, I must go back to Rome, the See of Peter, and to my duties as pastor of the Universal Church." He thanked everyone "for being a part of my Jubilee pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Paul. In the "geography of salvation'. At the end of my first visit, I told you that upon my return to Rome, I would tell the Apostle Paul that the Maltese were 'a good Catholic people'. Now, I shall tell your patron that you are still doing what he wanted: 'fighting the good fight of the faith; taking hold of the eternal life to which you were called'."

"Malta," the Pope observed, "is at the center of the Mediterranean. You therefore have a unique vocation to be builders of bridges between the peoples of the mediterranean basin, between Africa and Europe. The future of peace in the world depends on strengthening dialogue and understanding between cultures and religions."

John Paul II stated that, during his Jubilee pilgrimage he "hoped and prayed for a great renewal of faith among Christians. I have wished to encourage believers and all people of good will to defend life, to promote respect for the dignity of every human being, to safeguard the family against so many present-day threats, to open their hearts to the world's poor and exploited, and to work for an international order built on respect for the rule of law and on solidarity with the less fortunate."

After the papal plane took off, it flew over the island of St. Paul, where the apostle was shipwrecked in the year 60. On his previous visit to Malta, Pope John Paul, aboard a catamaran, had blessed a fiberglass statue of St. Paul, which was then dropped over the side of the boat, just off the island, as a protection for mariners.

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"YOU FLOURISH BECAUSE YOUR ROOTS REACH DEEP INTO CHRIST"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 9, 2001 (VIS) - At 4:30 this afternoon, following a private visit to the Church of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and the tomb of Blessed George Preca in Hamrun, Pope John Paul went to the adjacent center, which houses the Society of Christian Doctrine, for a liturgy of the Word.

The Society for Christian Doctrine was founded in 1907 by Blessed Preca. Known in Malta as MUSEUM, an acronym for "Magister, utinam sequatur Evangelium universus mundus," ("Master, may the whole world follow the Gospel"), its scope is to prepare young people so that they in turn can impart religious formation to others. The SCD, which has male and female branches, was approved by ecclesiastical authorities in 1932. Present in almost every Maltese parish, members undergo a two-year preparatory course. They take a vow of celibacy, and daily attend Mass and read from their founder's work entitled "The Watch." In the evenings they hold catechetical formation sessions.

"I thank you for your warm welcome," the Holy Father told the 1,000 faithful in the SCD auditorium. "It shows that the hospitality which once embraced the Apostle Paul is still to be found in Malta."

He noted that "the island of Malta is a rock rising from the sea, where the soil is often thin and the sun harsh. ... Yet down the centuries Malta has been extraordinarily generous and fertile in the deeper ways of the Spirit. The unshakeable faith of the Maltese people has ensured that this rock has been the good soil of which the Gospel speaks. In this soil, Blessed George Preca planted the Society of Christian Doctrine, where it has flourished in the century of its life."

Referring to Fr. Preca's Maltese name, the pope added: "Not only did Dun Gorg sow the seed; he tended the sapling and fed the young tree so that it would grow strong and fruitful, as it has. You have flourished because you have roots reaching deep into Christ, and because you have been well nurtured by Dun Gorg's life of holiness."

John Paul II noted that "wherever Dun Gorg went to preach he was followed by crowds of people. They were captivated by his words. Why? It was because they recognized in the preaching of Dun Gorg the voice of Jesus himself. It was the Lord to Whom they were listening; they were drawn by the irresistible attractiveness of Christ Who alone, they knew, could satisfy the deepest longing of their hearts."

"Your rule of life," he then remarked, "urges you to pray often and to meet regularly with your spiritual director, who serves as guide and companion on the path of your fidelity. ... Like Saint Paul, from contemplation you are called to go forth as missionaries: not just as teachers but as witnesses who can speak with power because you can say, like the first disciples: 'We have seen the Lord!'
"Your founder was especially devoted to the words: 'Verbum Dei caro factum est' ... 'The Word was made flesh'. Here in fact is the foundation of your vocation and apostolate. ... You are to plant the seed of God's word in people's hearts, so that Christ may live in them! You must teach everyone ' children, young people, adults ' to contemplate the face of Christ, to see the Lord so that the light of God's glory which shines from the face of Jesus may shine forth from them as well."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 10, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Msgr. Luc Cyr, vicar general of the diocese of Saint-Jerome, Canada, as bishop of Valleyfield (area 28,112, population 232,828, Catholics 185,285, priests 110, permanent deacons 9, religious 165), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in Saint-Jerome in 1953, and ordained to the priesthood in 1980.

- Fr. Peter Hla, vicar general of the archdiocese of Taunggyi (area 52,740, population 1,900,000, Catholics 43,262, priests 45, religious 102), Myanmar, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect was born in Hwary, Myanmar in 1952, and ordained to the priesthood in 1981.

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