EAST TIMOR: BUILD A MORE FRATERNAL AND UNITED SOCIETY

VATICAN CITY, OCT 30, 2002 (VIS) - This morning John Paul II received Bishops Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, S.D.B., and Basilio do Nascimento, apostolic administrators of Dili and Baucau, East Timor, who just completed their "ad limina" visit.
At the beginning of his speech, the Pope entrusted once again the victims of violence in the country to divine mercy and he expressed "profound solidarity with all those who suffer the consequences of the drama that has afflicted your people."

"Praised be God," he said, "because in His kindness and providence He has allowed us to see the return of freedom and peace to your country, permitting you to dedicate yourselves now with all your energies to the service of a promising harvest."

"While we recall the enormous tragedy we cannot help but ask ourselves this question: How was the outbreak of such cruel and irrational violence possible? ... It may be useful for your ecclesiastical communities," he emphasized," to perform an act of purification as was done in the Holy Year."

Speaking about young people and adults, the Holy Father affirmed that in order to discover "in an ever clearer way their vocation and an ever greater willingness to live it in fulfilling their mission, it is necessary that they take advantage of a complete catechesis on the truths of the faith and their concrete implications in life."

After stressing the importance of the education of families so that "parents are able to convey to their children that which they themselves have received," he referred to the duty of lay people to be present "with determination and intellectual creativity in privileged places of culture, ... in the fields of scientific and technical research, and artistic creation and humanistic reflection."

John Paul II urged "priests always to be men of faith and prayer which the world needs" and to give priority to the "spiritual service of the faithful who have been entrusted to their care, to lead them to Jesus Christ, whom they represent, being men of mission and dialogue." And he expressed his joy at the increase of priestly and religious vocations in their dioceses.

The Holy Father concluded by exhorting the people of East Timor to "commit themselves decidedly to building an ever more fraternal and united society, whose members share equally the virtue and responsibility of the new nation."

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