POPE WELCOMES BISHOPS OF BANGLADESH AT END OF "AD LIMINA"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 15, 2001 (VIS) - The Pope this morning welcomed the bishops of Bangladesh as they conclude their "ad limina" visit to Rome. This quinquennial visit allows a country's bishops to meet not only with the Holy Father but with officials from various congregations and councils in the Roman Curia, in order to assess the particular situation of the Church in their country.

In his talk to the bishops, the Pope highlighted the situation in Bangladesh, noting that "the Catholic community in Bangladesh is small" but shows "enthusiasm and fervor." He remarked that priestly "vocations continue to grow in number" and added that "the Church in Bangladesh is blessed with a great number of male and female religious, ... active in the fields of education, health care and various social apostolates."

Bangladesh has a total population of just over 124 million people, of whom 252,000, or .20 percent, are Catholic. There is 1 archdiocese, 5 dioceses, 8 bishops, 253 priests, 98 seminarians, 1,070 religious and 6,724 catechists.

During the Jubilee Year, John Paul II observed, "two of the more significant projects which you undertook were the Jubilee Bible and the Bengali translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church." He invited the bishops "to make the new edition of the Bible easily available and to help individuals and families to read it prayerfully by encouraging the ancient and ever valid tradition of 'lectio divina' in a way which will be readily understood and accessible to all."

"Given the particular situation in which you live," the Pope went on, "interreligious dialogue is an integral part of your mission. More frequent contacts between Christians and Muslims, and greater understanding of each other's religious traditions and values, should help to overcome attitudes of suspicion and distrust."

The Pope praised the efforts of the Church in Bangladesh, especially efforts by the laity, to help the poor, the marginalized and the suffering. He urged the prelates to make the Church's social doctrine "more widely known and implemented" as a "contribution to alleviating the causes of poverty."

Pope John Paul dedicated his concluding remarks to the family, considered by the bishops of Bangladesh as "a priority sector of pastoral care." Highlighting Asian family values "such as filial respect, love and care for the aged and the sick and love of children," he encouraged the pastors "to continue to reflect on ways of strengthening and promoting the family, founded upon marriage, as the community with the mission of guarding, revealing and communicating life and love."

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MARRIAGE AND FAMILY INSTITUTE CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 15, 2001 (VIS) - The John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, founded by Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981, this weekend celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its foundation. This afternoon a commemoration will be held at the Institute, which is a part of the Pontifical Lateran University.

The Institute has branches on five continents, with seats in Washington D.C., Mexico D.F., Guadalajara, Valencia, and Salvador de Bahia. Other academic institutes for studies on marriage and the family, working in collaboration with the John Paul II Institute, are in Benin, India, Australia, Ireland, and Austria.

The opening anniversary celebration will take place at 4 this afternoon, with the blessing of the newly restored "John Paul II Auditorium" by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Following this, an academic seminar will be presided over by Bishop Angelo Scola, president of the Institute and rector of the Pontifical Lateran University. Bishop's Scola's discourse, entitled "'Familiaris Consortio' and Nuptial Mystery," will discuss the Holy Father's Apostolic Exhortation 'Familiaris Consortio," also celebrating its 20th anniversary, which was the inspiration of the Institute's work. Archbishop Carlo Caffarra of Ferrara-Comacchio, former dean of the Familiaris Consortio Institute, will speak on the theme: "'Familiaris Consortio' - the John Paul II Institute and the Current Situation of Marriage and the Family."

Two other celebratory moments are scheduled. The Pope will receive the members of the Institute in audience on May 31. The Fourth Colloquium on Moral Theology will be held on November 16 and 17th.

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NINTH CENTENARY OF DEATH OF ST. BRUNO, FOUNDER OF CARTHUSIANS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 15, 2001 (VIS) - Made public today was the text of a Message from John Paul II to Fr. Marcellin D. Theewes, prior of the Great Charter House and minister general of the Carthusian Order, and to all of the members of the Carthusian family, on the occasion of the ninth centenary of the death of their founder, St. Bruno.

In the Message, written in French and dated May 14, John Paul II recalled that "the vocation to prayer and to contemplation, which characterizes the Carthusian life, demonstrates in particular that Christ alone can bring the fullness of meaning and joy to human aspirations."

After emphasizing "the sanctity and simplicity" of the life of the members of the Carthusian family, the Pope writes: "The search for God in contemplation cannot be separated from love for brethren, love which makes us recognize the face of Christ in the poorest among men. The contemplation of Christ, lived in fraternal charity, remains the surest way to reach a complete fullness of life."

"In these celebratory days of the order," the Pope continues, "I pray ardently to the Lord that He would cause to resound in the heart of numerous youth the call to leave everything to follow the poor Christ, in the exacting but exceedingly freeing path of the Carthusian life."

John Paul II writes in conclusion, referring in a particular way to those responsible for the formation of aspirants to the Carthusian monastic life: "In fact, our contemporary culture, characterized by a strong hedonism, by the desire for possession and an erroneous conception of freedom, does not facilitate the expression of generosity of the youth that wish to consecrate their life to Christ, following His footsteps on the path of oblational love, of concrete and generous service."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 15, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in audience Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 15, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Included the following cardinals among the members of the Roman Congregations:
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Cardinals Ignace Moussa I Daoud, Giovanni Battista Re, Ivan Dias, Desmond Connell, Zenon Grocholewski, and Walter Kasper.
- Congregation for the Oriental Churches: Cardinals Varkey Vithayathil, Lubomyr Husar, Karl Lehmann, Agostino Cacciavillan, and Walter Kasper.
- Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments: Cardinals Ivan Dias, Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Claudio Hummes, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Jose Saraiva Martins, and Mario Francesco Pompedda.
- Congregation for the Causes of Saints: Cardinals Janis Pujats, Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, and Jorge Maria Mejia.
- Congregation for Bishops: Cardinals Desmond Connell, Louis-Marie Bille, Karl Lehmann, Agostino Cacciavillan, Zenon Grocholewski, and Jose Saraiva Martins.
- Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples: Cardinals Wilfrid Fox Napier, Bernard Agre, Ignacio Antonio Velsco Garcia, Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, and Agostino Cacciavillan.
- Congregation for Clergy: Cardinals Marian Jaworski, Johannes Joachim Degenhardt, Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Severino Poletto, Sergio Sebastiani, and Crescenzio Sepe.
- Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life: Cardinals Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, Wilfrid Fox Napier, and Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
- Congregation for Catholic Education: Cardinals Christoph Schonborn, Johannes Joachim Degenhardt, Ivan Diaz, Pedro Rubiano Saenz, Audrys Juozas Backis, and Jose da Cruz Policarpo.
- Appointed Bishop Jorge Enrique Jimenez Carvajal of Zipaquira, Colombia, president of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), as counsellor of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

- Appointed Msgr. Thomas John Rodi, vicar general of the archdiocese of New Orleans, U.S.A., as bishop of Biloxi (area 24,992, population 737,373, Catholics 67,862, priests 94, permanent deacons 19, religious 117), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Joseph Lawson Howze, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with the age limit. The bishop-elect was born in New Orleans in 1949 and ordained to the priesthood in 1978.

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