HOLY SEE ON PROMOTING, PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2001 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke yesterday before the Third Committee of the 56th session of the U.N. General Assembly on Item 115, "The Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children."

He began by noting that "Unfortunately, too many of the world's children are affected by war and conflict every day of their lives. They all bear the physical and psychological scars which might be the result of direct involvement as combatants and child soldiers or through abduction, abuse, separation from family, malnutrition, and lost educational opportunities. The same might be said for those children who are victims of exploitation or abuse. For these children unimaginable horrors are an everyday occurrence. These also suffer physical and psychological trauma which leaves scars that may never be healed."

Archbishop Martino affirmed that "the Convention on the Rights of the Child continues to guide governments in their actions regarding the well-being of children through the recognition of their dignity and the acknowledgment that 'the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including legal protection, before as well as after birth'."

He announced that, on the morning of October 24, "on behalf of the Holy See, I will deposit the instruments of ratification of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child ... The Holy See does this ... because (it) has always recognized the fundamental importance of protecting the human rights of children and promoting their well being. This is most evident through the thousands of schools, hospitals and care centres under the auspices of the Catholic Church, as well as in the work of the Church among children who are refugees and displaced, those living in poverty or who are separated from parents or their family." Another of the ways this recognition is carried-out is certainly realized in protecting children from the atrocities of armed conflict and exploitation."

The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography explicitly prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and calls for legal protection against the sexual exploitation of children, the transfer of their organs, and forced labor.

The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict expands the protection of children from recruitment for participation in armed conflict to the age of 18, and reinforces the prohibition of the recruitment of children under (that) age by armed forces distinct from the State.

"There are many challenges in the world," Archbishop Martino concluded. "Each and every action that the United Nations system can take helps to chip away at the problems that continue to hamper the realization of the rights and assurance of the well-being of children."

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GENERAL AUDIENCE: PSALM 50, SIN AND PERSONAL CONVERSION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2001 (VIS) - In today's general audience, celebrated in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II spoke on "Psalm 50 - Have Mercy on me, O God," in which the believer expresses his desire to do penance and his hope in the mercy of God.

"Psalm 50 outlines two aspects," the Pope said. "There is first of all the dark region of sin, in which man lives from the first moment of his life." Though not speaking explicitly of original sin, it states that there is "a profound dimension of inborn moral weakness in man."

The Holy Father affirmed that "if man, however, confesses his sin, the salvific justice of God is ready to radically purify him. In this way one passes into the second spiritual region of the Psalm, the luminous region of grace. ... The Lord does not only act negatively, eliminating sin, but rather recreates sinful humanity through His enlivening Spirit: he gives man a new and pure 'heart', that is, a renewed conscience, and opens to him the possibility of a pure faith and devotion pleasing to God."

This Biblical supplication "reveals to us certain fundamental elements of a spirituality which must reverberate in the daily life of the faithful. Above all," he concluded, "there is a lively sense of sin" and "an equally lively sense of the possibility of conversion: the sinner, sincerely pentitent, presents himself in all of his misery and nakedness before God, beseeching Him not to drive him from His presence."

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PREPARATION OF COLLECTIVE AMENDMENTS TO THE PROPOSITIONS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2001 (VIS) - This morning, while John Paul II held the general audience in St. Peter's Square, the synod fathers met in the twelve language groups to continue preparing the collective amendments to the propositions.

No General Congregation will be held this afternoon or tomorrow morning. The synod fathers will meet again in the Synod Hall tomorrow afternoon for the presentation and approval of the Final Message of the Synod of Bishops.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Bishop Luiz Antonio Guedes, auxiliary of Campinas, as bishop of Bauru (area 5,879, population 433,000, Catholics 384,000, priests 59, religious 118), Brazil.

- Bishop Augusto Alves da Rocha of Picos, as bishop of Oeiras-Floriano (area 58,697, population 340,000, Catholics 315,000, priests 19, religious 49), Brazil.

- Msgr. Julito B. Cortes, of the clergy of the diocese of Dumaguete, vicar general of the same diocese, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Cebu (area 5,088, population 3,222,841, Catholics 2,787,956, priests 501, religious 1,344), the Philippines. The bishop-elect was born in Paranaque, the Philippines, in 1956, and ordained to the priesthood in 1980.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in audience the following participants of the Synod of Bishops:

- Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, S.J., archbishop of Milan, Italy.
- Archbishop Joseph Powathil of Changanacherry of the Syro-Malabars, India.
- Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I., of Cotabato, the Philippines. - Archbishop Norbert Wendelin Mtega of Songea, Tanzania.
- Archbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales of Lipa, the Philippines.
- Archbishop Raphael S. Ndingi Mwana'a Nzeki of Nairobi, Kenya.
- Archbishop Philip E. Wilson, coadjutor of Adelaide, Australia.
- Bishop Joseph Anthony Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, U.S.A.
- Bishop John Njue of Embu, Kenya.
- Bishop Joseph Shipandeni Shikongo, O.M.I., apostolic vicar of Rundu, Namibia.
- Bishop Anthony Kwami Adanuty of Keta-Akatsi, Ghana.
- Bishop Denis Wiehe, C.S.Sp., coadjutor of Port Victoria, Seychelles.
- Bishop Franklyn Nubuasah, S.V.D., apostolic vicar of Francistown, Botswana.

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