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Friday, February 8, 2002

POPE TO PRESIDE AT ASH WEDNESDAY CEREMONY


VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2002 (VIS) - In the Basilica of St. Sabina on the evening of Ash Wednesday, February 13, 2002, John Paul II is due to preside at the Liturgy of the Word. The homily will be followed by the rite of the blessing and imposition of the ashes.

A moment of prayer at 5 p.m. in the church of St. Anselm will be followed by a penitential procession to the Basilica of St. Sabina. Cardinals, archbishops, bishops, the Benedictine monks of St. Anselm, the Dominican Fathers of St. Sabina and a number of lay people will take part in the event.

Cardinal Jozef Tomko, who holds the title of St. Sabina, will preside at the Eucharistic liturgy and, at the close, the Holy Father will impart his apostolic blessing.

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ST. EGIDIO: FRIENDSHIP LIVED WITH EVANGELICAL SENSITIVITY


VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today, John Paul II received bishops and priests who are participating in Rome in the fourth international meeting of the Community of St. Egidio, and who are considering the theme of the primacy of sanctity and prayer in the Church's mission.

Your reflections and the conclusions you draw from this meeting, said the Holy Father, will enrich your "spiritual and pastoral baggage for the times ahead. The century that has just begun awaits the communication of the Gospel 'sine glossa' as St. Francis used to say, it awaits disciples who are coherent witnesses of that Gospel to the very end." After recalling the many bishops, priests and lay people who gave their lives for the Gospel over the last century, he said: "May the testimony of these 'new martyrs,' whom I particularly wished to recall during the Jubilee, be a precious heritage for all of us."

The Pope then addressed some remarks to Andrea Riccardi who "began the community's journey" 34 years ago. "They have been years marked by listening to the Gospel and by friendship with all people. It could be said that friendship characterizes every aspect of the life of the Community of St. Egidio. Friendship lived with evangelical sensitivity is an effective way to be Christian in the world; it enables frontiers to be crossed and distances covered, even when they seem insurmountable. ... This friendship becomes a force for reconciliation, a truly necessary force in our time so dramatically marked by conflict and violent confrontations."

Ever since the first prayer meeting for peace, held in Assisi, Italy, in 1986, the community has promoted annual meetings "that have brought the 'spirit of Assisi' to blow through the skies of various European cities. As a result, an extraordinary movement has come into being of men and women from different religions who, without confusion, never cease to invoke from God peace for all people."

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NEW FILIPINO AMBASSADOR PRESENTS LETTERS OF CREDENCE


VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2002 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II received in audience the new ambassador from the Philippines, Francisco Acevedo Alba, who presented his Letters of Credence.

The Pope began his address by affirming that in the words of the ambassador's speech concerning the hopes and efforts of the Filipino people in the cause of peace "there is an echo of that universal longing for goodness, justice and solidarity in human relations which has been cruelly shaken by the events of recent months."

"The recent gathering for peace at Assisi ... showed how people of very different religious and cultural backgrounds are firmly convinced that violence in all its forms is totally incompatible with true religious sentiment, and indeed with human dignity. It is the task of the leaders of nations to find the practical and technical ways to translate into laws, institutions and actions the yearning of the human heart for the tranquility of order which is true peace."

John Paul II went on to address the actual situation in the Philippines, saying: "Your own country is not unaffected by what is happening. A negotiated solution to longstanding difficulties has not been forthcoming and the level of conflict has risen." Quoting his Message for the World Day of Peace 2002, the Pope highlighted that "the pillars of peace in your land, as everywhere else, are justice and forgiveness: the justice which ensures full respect for rights and responsibilities, and equitable distribution of benefits and burdens; and the forgiveness which heals and rebuilds troubled human relations from their foundations. Certainly, we cannot think that justice and forgiveness will come as the result of violence and conflict."

Speaking of "common good as the purpose of good governance," John Paul II affirmed: "This good is a human good, looking to the integral well-being of people in all their complexity. ... It would be a grave mistake to limit public policies to the search for economic progress, which is all too often measured in terms of increased consumerism, as if that alone could satisfy people's aspirations. ... True progress cannot but take proper account of a people's cultural and spiritual needs and traditions."

On this subject, the Pope turned to consider the globalization of the economy which, he said, "with its leveling of cultural differences, is not necessarily and in every case a solution to real needs. In fact, it can aggravate the imbalances already evident in the relations between those who benefit from the world's growing capacity to produce wealth and those who are left at the margin of progress. The great moral challenge facing nations and the international community is to combine development with solidarity - a genuine sharing of benefits - in order to overcome both dehumanizing underdevelopment and the 'overdevelopment' which considers people as mere economic units in a consumer system."
In closing, the Holy Father recalled that fruitful cooperation between public authorities and the Church, "each in their own sphere," is necessary to "set economic and political life within a genuinely moral framework." In the Philippines, he said, "there is a long tradition of mutual support and cooperation between the Church and civil society. ... The challenges before your nation are great. ... Building on the best Filipino traditions of family life and mutual concern and service, and curtailing the excesses of privilege and partisan interests, the nation can look to a very bright future."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Buenos Aires, Argentina, presented by Auxiliary Bishop Mario Jose Serra upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Mario Aurelio Poli, director of the preparatory vocational institute of Buenos Aires (area 202, population 3,826,000, Catholics 3,506,000, priests 848, permanent deacons 5, religious 2,437), Argentina, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect was born in Buenos Aires in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1978.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Four prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Argentina, on their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Juan Ruben Martinez of Posadas.
- Bishop Fernando Maria Bargallo of Merlo-Moreno.
- Bishop Hector Sabatino Cardelli of Concordia.
- Bishop Marcelo Palentini S.C.I., of Jujuy.
- Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

This evening, he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

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