PARENTS COLLABORATE IN THEIR CHILDREN'S DIVINE PATERNITY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 13, 2002 (VIS) - In the Sistine Chapel at 10 a.m. today, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Pope presided at a Eucharistic celebration during which he administered the Sacrament of Baptism to 20 newborns from Italy, France, Spain and the U.S.A.

In his homily the Pope said, addressing particularly the parents of the children, "the grace of Christ will transform their existence from mortal to immortal, freeing it from original sin. Give thanks to the Lord for the gift of their birth and of their spiritual rebirth today."

"These children," he continued, "today receive Baptism on the basis of your faith, which I will shortly ask you to profess. How much love, how much responsibility lies in the gesture you will perform in your children' name!"

"Yet, will they be able to open themselves to faith if they do not receive a worthy testimony thereof from the adults around them? These children need, above all, you, dear parents. They also need you, dear godparents, that they may learn to know the true God Who is merciful love. ... They will understand that God is faithfulness if they can recognize the reflection - though limited and fallible - of that faithfulness, above all, in your loving presence."

John Paul II concluded by emphasizing "parents' great responsibility of cooperating in the spiritual growth of their children. ... If your mission as parents 'according to the flesh' is great, how much more is that of collaborating in the divine paternity, offering your contribution to forming in these creatures the very image of Jesus, the perfect Man."

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JOHN PAUL II: TRANSFIGURE EVERYDAY LIFE

VATICAN CITY, JAN 12, 2002 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope received in audience 5,000 participants in the international congress held in Rome to mark the centenary of the birth of Blessed Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei.

The Holy Father recalled that during the congress, which was held from January 8 to 11, consideration was given to "the greatness of everyday life as a path to sanctity." He affirmed that, from the beginning of his ministry, Blessed Escriva preached that "all the baptized are called to the fullness of charity, and that the most immediate way to reach this common goal lies in the normality of daily life."

"For all baptized men and women who wish to follow Christ faithfully," he continued, "the factory, the office, the library, the laboratory, the workshop, the home can all be transformed into places for meeting the Lord. ... For us too, daily life ... can acquire the magnitude of a supernatural dimension and, in this way, become transfigured."

John Paul II emphasized that by "sanctifying their work while respecting objective moral norms, the lay faithful make an effective contribution to building a society more worthy of man. ... Thus, they cooperate in molding a human race more attentive to the needs of individuals and of the common good."

He went on: "Following the in footsteps of your founder, continue your mission with zeal and faithfulness. In the daily struggle, show that Christ's love can shape the curve of existence, enabling the ideal of 'unity of life' to be attained; the ideal that, as I reiterated in the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation 'Christifideles laici,' is fundamental in the commitment to evangelization in contemporary society.

"Prayer, work and the apostolate, as you learned from Blessed Josemaria, come together and unite if they are lived in this spirit. He always encouraged you to 'love the world passionately,' adding, though, an important clarification: 'Be men and women of the world, but do not be worldly men and women.' In this way, you will avoid the danger of being conditioned by a worldly mentality that conceives spiritual commitment as something that can be relegated to the private sphere and, consequently, irrelevant to public life."

"The earth," he concluded, "as your founder recalls, is a path to heaven and the existence of each believer, each with their own burdens and limitations, must become a true temple wherein dwells the Son of God made man."

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BUILD A UNITED AND PEACEFUL SOCIETY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 14, 2002 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II received representatives from the regional administration of Lazio, Italy, with their president, Francesco Storace; from the town hall of Rome, accompanied by the mayor, Walter Veltroni, and from the provincial administration of Rome accompanied by their president Silvano Moffa, for the traditional exchange of New Year greetings.

In his address, the Pope spoke of the need to "continue tirelessly in efforts to build a united and peaceful society. ... Responsible attention to the needs of the less fortunate, a more just division of resources and integration between different cultures are the necessary premises for a truly human future."

After mentioning legislative measures approved last year that favor the family based on matrimony, he said: "For example, one particularly urgent need is to help young couples, enabling them to face matrimony with serenity and to assume their responsibilities in educating their children."

In the city of Rome, he said, as well as in the province and in the region, many people live "in conditions of partial or total poverty and marginalization, ... a large percentage of them immigrants. ... Whether those involved are the homeless; elderly people living alone; children or families in hardship; immigrants; the unemployed; prisoners; the terminally ill or other categories in difficulty, their existence should never be considered useless."
The Holy Father went on to refer to health-care, particularly for the less well off. He expressed the desire that with the cooperation of institutions involved in this field, including Catholic institutions, "it may become possible to give people an efficient health service, one respectful of individual dignity. I am certain that the recently-stipulated agreement concerning religious assistance in hospitals and nursing homes will contribute to meeting a real need of patients in those places."

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POPE VISITS NATIVITY SCENE OF ROMAN STREET CLEANERS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 13, 2002 (VIS) - This afternoon John Paul II visited, as he does every year, the nativity scene built by the street cleaners of Rome. The Pope was greeted by the mayor of Rome and the personnel of the organization whose job it is to clean the streets of the capital.

The Holy Father expressed the wish that 2002 "may be a year of serenity and peace. ... Each and every individual must construct peace in their own environment. May believers and all people of good will welcome the announcement of peace proclaimed by the angels over the manger in Bethlehem. That call also sounds out for us today as we pause before the nativity scene that, with sincere faith, you have been building each year for thirty years now. May the Lord, Prince of peace, be your daily support; turn to Him with faith. His love will give new meaning to all your activities and aspirations."

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ANGELUS: BAPTISM, CHRIST'S FIRST PUBLIC MANIFESTATION

VATICAN CITY, JAN 13, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today, following Mass and the Baptism of a group of children in the Sistine Chapel, John Paul II appeared at the window of his study in order to pray the angelus with pilgrims gathered below in St. Peter's Square.

"This year too," the Pope began, "I have had the joy of baptizing a number of children on today's feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The Gospels place that event as the beginning of Jesus' public life. It is, indeed, the first manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God."

"The Lord thus showed Himself as 'the Christ,' consecrated by God in the Holy Spirit and sent by Him to announce the joyful message of salvation to the poor. The aim of His mission is to baptize men and women in the Holy Spirit, in other words, to communicate to them the 'fire' of divine life. This will be fully accomplished with His death and resurrection, a mystery in which those who receive the Sacrament of Baptism come to participate."

The Holy Father also recalled that during this period a preparatory meeting is taking place in Toronto, Canada, for the 17th World Youth Day. "For this reason," he said after having greeted the organizers of that event, "my thoughts are particularly directed to you, dear young people, who are already ideally 'on the way' to Toronto. ... I hope to see you once again in great numbers. Abandon all fear and uncertainty: remember that you must be 'morning sentinels,' ever ready to announce the advent of the new day that is the risen Christ."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JAN 14, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Two prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam, on their "ad limina" visit:
- Cardinal Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung, archbishop of Ha Noi.
- Archbishop Etienne Nguyen Nhu The of Hue.
- Fr. Jozef Daniel Pravda S.D.B., superior of the "sui iuris" mission of Baku, Azerbaijan.

On Saturday, January 12, he received in separate audiences:

- Bishop Reinhard Lettmann of Munster, Federal Republic of Germany.
- Msgr. James Patrick Green, interim charge d'affaires at the apostolic nunciature in the Republic of China.
- Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, accompanied by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, secretary of the Administration, and Msgr. Carlo Liberati and Giorgio Stoppa, delegates of the same organization.
- Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 14, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, as his special envoy to the Tenth World Day of the Sick, to be held at Vailankanni, India, on February 11, 2002.

On Saturday, January 12, it was made public that he appointed:

- Archbishop Giovanni d'Aniello as apostolic nuncio in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Fr. Klemens Stock S.J., pro-dean of the faculty for ancient oriental studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, as secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.
- As members of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences: Msgr. Guillermo Duran and Agostino Borromeo.
- As members of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses: Archbishop Dominik Hrusovsky. Archbishop-bishops: Patabendige Don Albert Malcolm Ranjith, emeritus of Ratnapura, Sri Lanka, assistant secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Stephen Fumio Hamao, emeritus of Yokohama, Japan, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples; Javier Lozano Barragan of Zacatecas, Mexico, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, and Bishop Marc Ouellet, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

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