HOLY FATHER TO PRESIDE OVER FUNERAL FOR CARDINAL BERTOLI

VATICAN CITY, NOV 8, 2001 (VIS) - Tomorrow, November 9, at 6 p.m. at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica, the Pope will preside over the funeral Mass for Italian Cardinal Paolo Bertoli, who died this morning in Rome at the age of 93.

In a telegram to the cardinal's niece, John Paul II recalls that "for many years he was a sincere and concerned collaborator of the Holy See, especially as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and as camerlengo of Holy Roman Church, always giving a much-appreciated witness of fervent priestly zeal and faithfulness to the Gospel."

TGR;DEATH CARDINAL BERTOLI;...;...;VIS;20011108;Word: 110;

POPE ADDRESSES SIXTH PUBLIC SESSION OF PONTIFICAL ACADEMIES

VATICAN CITY, NOV 8, 2001 (VIS) - Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Council of Coordination between the Pontifical Academies, presided this morning in the Vatican over the sixth public session, whose theme was "Cultural dimensions of globalization: a challenge to Christian humanism."

Participating in the session were members of the Pontifical Academies of St. Thomas Aquinas, of Theology and of Mary Immaculate, as well as the International Marian Pontifical Academy, the Pontifical Academy of Arts and Letters of the Virtuosos of the Pantheon, the Roman Pontifical Academy of Archeology and the Pontifical Academy "Cultorum Martyrum."

After speeches by Fr. Abelardo Lobato, president of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas, and by Sr. Marcella Farina, president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, the Pope pronounced a discourse.

The Holy Father affirmed that "One has the impression that the complex dynamisms, aroused by the globalization of the economy and the means of communications, aim to progressively reduce man to a market variable, to a good of exchange, to a factor which is completely irrelevant in the most decisive choices. In this way man risks feeling crushed by faceless mechanisms of worldwide dimensions and increasingly losing his identity and his dignity as person.

"As a consequence of these dynamisms," he continued, "cultures as well, if not welcomed and respected in their own originality and richness, but adapted forcibly to the needs of the market and to trends, can run the risk of becoming homologized. The result is a cultural product characterized by a superficial syncretism, in which new measures of value are imposed, derived from often arbitrary, materialistic and consumerist criteria and resistant to any openness to the Transcendent."

The Pope emphasized that "this great challenge ... demands an attentive and profound intellectual and theological discernment of the anthropological-cultural paradigm produced by these great changes. In this context the Pontifical Academies can offer a precious contribution, orienting the cultural choices of the Christian communities and of all of society and proposing occasions and instruments of encounter between faith and culture, between revelation and human problems."

At the end of the session John Paul II awarded the annual prize of the Pontifical Academies, which is given to young scholars who have contributed with their theological, philosophical, historical, or artistic work to the promotion of Christian humanism. This year the award was given to Pia Francesca de Solenni for her work in Thomistic theology entitled: "A Hermeneutic of Aquinas' Mens through a Sexually Differentiated Epistemology. Towards an Understanding of Woman as 'Imago Dei'," presented at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. At the same time, he presented a medal of his pontificate to Johannes Nebel, a recent graduate and a member of "The Family of Consecrated Life," for his thesis presented at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome.

AC;SESSION PONTIFICAL ACADEMIES;...;POUPARD;VIS;20011108;Word: 500;

FOOD SECURITY, A FACTOR OF PEACE AND STABILITY

VATICAN CITY, NOV 8, 2001 (VIS) - Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, head of the Holy See delegation to the 31st session of the General Conference of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome, addressed the assembly yesterday on "Food Security, a Factor of Peace and International Stability."

The archbishop noted that FAO, through its activity, hopes "to reach the poorest and the indigent." He underscored the urgent need "to implement an effective cooperation in order to spread techniques and instruments in agriculture, forestry and fishery" and to effect "resources' distribution, starting with safe food supplies." He added that "the concept of food security (has) evolved from a mere initial consideration of technical order, related to the availability of enough foodstuffs in stock, into a principle that by now guarantees the respect for a true and fundamental right of every human person, and becomes a vital factor of peace and international stability."

"The Holy See," he said, asks you "to open up your heart in order to understand that there does not exist an abstract hunger problem, but rather there do exist human beings like ourselves who in their everyday lives, suffer from hunger and malnutrition."

He affirmed that remedies to "the situations of starving people, refugees and internally displaced people, victims of conflicts or violations of human rights" cannot remain "pending" or put into "isolation" because of selfish motivations or conflicting interests on the part of leaders.

Archbishop Marchetto observed that "all over the world supply and demand for food products ... are anchored in a 'culture of having', and not in an ethic of solidarity." The responsibility to create solidarity and to help the poorest people affected by hunger "falls upon the whole international community."

DELSS;FOOD SECURITY;...;FAO; MARCHETTO;VIS;20011108;Word: 290;

THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OF REFUGEES: A NOTE FOR BISHOPS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 8, 2001 (VIS) - Made public today was a communique concerning the volume "The Reproductive Health of Refugees: A Note for the Bishops' Conferences," which was published on September 14 by the Pontifical Councils for the Pastoral Care of Health, for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples and for the Family. A single volume contains the Italian, English, French and Spanish versions of the text.

In 1999 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the United Nations Populations Fund and several NGOs (Non-governmental organizations) produced a book entitled "The Inter-Agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations."

This 1999 Field Manual, says the communique, has been and "is the object of serious and numerous concerns for the Church and is at the basis of" the interdicasterial Note for Bishops' Conferences.

The volume produced by the pontifical councils is comprised of an Introduction, five chapters and a Conclusion. The chapters are: I. The Holy See, the United Nations Organization and Reproductive Health; II. The Church's Love for Refugees; III. Worrying Points in the 'Field Manual'; IV. The Pastoral Approach, and V. Specific Pastoral Problems.

...;REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH;...;...;VIS;20011108;Word: 200;

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, NOV 8, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences three prelates of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (B.C.M.S.B.), on the occasion of their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Dominic Su Haw Chiu of Sibu.
- Bishop John Lee Hiong Fun-Yit Yaw of Kota Kinabalu.
- Bishop Cornelius Piong of Keningau.

AL;...;...;... ;VIS;20011108;Word: 60;