POPE WELCOMES FAMILIES OF NEW METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOPS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 1, 2002 (VIS) - Pope John Paul this morning welcomed 1,000 relatives and friends of the 28 new metropolitan archbishops from five continents on whom he had bestowed the pallium on June 29, the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

He addressed them in the Paul VI Hall in the languages spoken by the new metropolitans: Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Polish. He asked that the various dioceses represented by the new archbishops "always distinguish themselves by an intense and effective spirit of communion."

The Holy Father remarked to the English-speaking archbishops, representing Newark, Madang, Visakhapatnam, Cardiff, Adelaide, Kumasi, New Orleans, Glasgow, Calcutta and Kingston, that their "presence is an eloquent sign of the universality of the Church, and a powerful witness to the communion through which the Church lives and fulfills her saving mission."

The Pope told the Spanish-speaking prelates that he hoped that, "vested with the pallium, sign of a special tie of communion with the See of Peter, you can be lively witnesses to the faith and bearers of the hope in the Risen Christ and the particular churches that have been entrusted to you."

John Paul II asked the new metropolitans "to always be passionate servants of the unity of the Church." He urged the faithful to always "know how to collaborate with (the bishops) so that every ecclesial community will live and work with only one heart and one soul."

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