ANNOUNCEMENT OF CHRIST MUST REACH EVERYONE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2001 (VIS) - Made public yesterday evening was the text of the Pope's Message to the participants of the Diocesan Assembly of Rome, which is being held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran from June 7 to 9 on the theme: "Starting afresh from Christ for the permanent mission in the city."

The Pope recalls that the Apostolic Letter "Novo millennio ineunte" and the Letter sent to the dioceses last February 14, guided the preparation of this Assembly and are a point of reference in formulating the pastoral program for the upcoming years.

"We ask the Lord," he writes, "that holiness may truly be for us the 'high standard of ordinary Christian living', in order that the announcement of Christ can reach all of the men and women of our city and be a source of conversion and renewal for personal and family life, as for every milieu of work and culture."

Addressing the priests, the Holy Father exhorts them to "direct and encourage everyone to 'put out into the deep', in order to bring the announcement of the Gospel into the homes, milieux, neighborhoods, and the entire city."

"I ask Christian families," he continues, "to open their homes to welcome other brothers and sisters in centers of listening to the Gospel and more extensively to take to heart the situations of moral, spiritual, or material difficulty which many other families experience, offering them a concrete witness of friendship, of listening, and of sharing."

John Paul II also exhorts the religious and the laity, to "'go out', to witness to and announce the Gospel in the great 'open sea' of the world of work, of culture, of society. In particular, to renew to the youth the invitation which I extended to them at Tor Vergata to be 'the morning sentinels' of this third millennium which has just begun."

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HOLY FATHER WELCOMES PATRIARCH OF ANTIOCH OF THE SYRIANS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2001 (VIS) - This morning in the Hall of the Popes, John Paul II welcomed for the first time since his election to the patriarchal see of Antioch of the Syrians, His Beatitude Ignace Pierre VIII, who was accompanied by prelates and faithful of the Syro-Catholic Church. "Your presence," said the Pope, "makes me relive in my heart my recent pilgrimage in your country in the footsteps of St. Paul."

In his speech in French, he recalled the patriarch's immediate predecessors, Mar Ignace Antoine II Hayek who, now retired, led the church for 30 years, and Cardinal Mar Ignace Moussa I Daoud whom he appointed prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches.

The Holy Father spoke of his joy at being able "to share this great moment of fraternal communion by which is expressed the bond which unites the Syro-Catholic Church to the entire Catholic Church." "You are called," he added, "notably by your presence in different countries of the Middle East, to be like leaven which, even though unobtrusively, has nonetheless a fundamental role in making all the bread rise."

"I salute in particular," stated John Paul II, "the concern of Christians for the human, spiritual, moral and intellectual education of young people through a quality school and catechetical network. I hope very much that the role of the Church in forming young people will be more and more recognized by society, so that there will be transmitted to the younger generations, without discrimination, the basic values and elements which will make today's young people the leaders of tomorrow in their families and in society."

The Pope then noted that the faithful of the Syro-Catholic Church are "heirs of a history nourished by the theological thought of great schools" and "by the teachings of illustrious and holy Fathers. ... You have to ceaselessly follow their traces, developing theological and spiritual research proper to your tradition, which will affirm your ecclesial communities and favor contacts with your Orthodox brothers."

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POPE AND CARDINALS OF THE CURIA MEET

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2001 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon, in the Hall of Congregations in the Apostolic Palace, Pope John Paul II presided over a meeting with the cardinals who are heads of dicasteries in the Roman Curia, according to a communique released this morning.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Prof. Jose Tomas Raga Gil, professor of Political Economy and Public Finance at the Universit… San Pablo-CEU, Madrid, Spain, as academician of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences:

- Archbishop Alfio Rapisarda, apostolic nuncio in Brazil.
- Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, apostolic nuncio in France.
- Two prelates of the Episcopal Conference of the Republic of the Congo, on the occasion of their "ad limina" visit:
- Msgr. Louis Portella, apostolic administrator "sede plena et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of Nkayi.
- Fr. Jean Gardin, C.S.Sp., apostolic prefect of Lokouala.
- His Beatitude Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad, patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians.

This evening he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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