OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 20, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Bishop Jose Gonzalez Alonso, auxiliary of Teresina, Brazil, as bishop of Cajazeiras (area 13,934, population 574,000, Catholics 556,000, priests 37, religious 57), Brazil.

- Fr. Jose Carlos dos Santos F.D.P., general counsellor of the Little Work of Divine Providence (Don Orione), as auxiliary of Luziania (area 16,480, population 700,000, Catholics 500,000, priests 33, religious 42), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Maruim, Brazil, in 1951 and ordained a priest in 1979.

- Bishop Heinz Josef Algermissen, auxiliary of Paderborn, Federal Republic of Germany, as bishop of Fulda (area 10,000, population 1,910,000, Catholics 447,275, priests 402, permanent deacons 17, religious 538), Federal Republic of Germany

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POPE SPEAKS OF WORLD'S REFUGEES, COMING TRIP TO UKRAINE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 20, 2001 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 14,000 faithful, Pope John Paul spoke of the World Day of the Refugee and also of his impending trip to Ukraine.

"I affectionately greet," he said, "a group of refugees accompanied by members of the Jesuit Refugee Services in Rome. Today, which has been declared World Day of the Refugee by the United Nations, your presence reminds us of the 50 million refugees concentrated in several of the poorest regions of the world. I greatly hope that the leaders of nations will know how to seek prompt and efficacious solutions for the problems which are at the basis of such great suffering, guaranteeing the necessary aid so that persons in exile may have living conditions worthy of human beings."
"This Saturday," the Holy Father continued, "God willing, I will travel to Ukraine, to Kiev and Lviv, realizing a desire I have had in my heart for some time. I thank the Lord for the opportunity He is giving me to walk in the footsteps of the missionaries who, at the end of the first Christian millennium, sent by the Churches of the East and the West, proclaimed the Gospel in that part of Europe. Since then, the history of those peoples is incomplete without the reference to Christianity."

The Pope added that he is "preparing to go to Ukraine with great hope. My aim is to confirm in the faith our brothers and sisters of the Catholic community and also to promote ecumenical commitment, in obedience to Christ's words: "That they may all be one!"

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AUDIENCE: ENCOUNTERING THE LORD REQUIRES A PURE HEART

VATICAN CITY, JUN 20, 2001 (VIS) - The theme of the catechesis in the general audience held today in St. Peter's Square concerned Psalm 23: "The Lord enters His Temple."

The Pope explained that the Psalm contains three fundamental truths: "God created the world and is the Lord thereof; ... we must all appear before Him and be questioned on what we have done; ... (He comes) to establish a relationship of profound communion with men."

This biblical text contains "a brief acclamation of the Creator to Whom the world and all its peoples belong. It is a kind of profession of faith in the Lord of the universe and of history." The Psalmist then explains to believers that the norms for reaching communion with the Lord in worship are "not merely ritual and external" but rather are "like an examination of conscience or a penitential act that precedes the liturgical celebration." The Psalm emphasizes the necessity of maintaining "clean hands and a pure heart, ... sincerity and, above all, the fight against idolatry" and relations with our neighbors that find inspiration in "justice and rectitude."

The Holy Father indicated that, in this way, the "joyful entrance of the faithful into the temple to meet the Lord" becomes possible. He added that "the triumphal scene described by the Psalm" has been used to commemorate Christ's descent into hell and His ascent into heaven, as well as in the liturgy for the opening of the Holy Door when "it enabled us to relive with intense inner emotion the same sentiments felt by the Psalmist in crossing the threshold of the old Temple of Zion."

"God, infinite, omnipotent and eternal," he concluded, "adapts Himself to human beings; He approaches man to meet him, listen to him and enter into communion with him. The liturgy is the expression of this encounter in faith, in dialogue and in love."

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