POPE RECEIVES SYRIAN PRESIDENT

VATICAN CITY, FEB 21, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today, Fr. Ciro Benedettini C.P., vice-director of the Holy See Press Office, made the following declaration:

"The Holy Father today received in audience Bashar Al-Assad, president of the Arab Republic of Syria, accompanied by his entourage.

"The Syrian president then met Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano for a cordial encounter in which Farouk Al-Shara, vice-prime minister and foreign minister of Syria, and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States, also took part.

"In the course of the discussions, opinions were exchanged on the subject of relations between Syria and the Holy See following the Holy Father's historic visit to Damascus last year, and on ways to restore peace to the Middle East, especially the Holy Land, on the basis of the well-known U.N. resolutions."

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TELEGRAMS FOR TRAGEDY IN EGYPT AND FLOODS IN BOLIVIA

VATICAN CITY, FEB 21, 2002 (VIS) - Made public today were two telegrams, sent by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano in the Pope's name, for the fire on a train in Egypt and the floods provoked by torrential rains in Bolivia, both of which events caused numerous victims:

In the telegram sent to Archbishop Marco Dino Brogi O.F.M., apostolic nuncio in Egypt, the Pope presents his condolences to the families of the victims and express the hope that they find "consolation and solidarity in their fellows."

Through Archbishop Edmundo Abastoflor Montero of La Paz, Bolivia, John Paul II transmits his condolences to the families of the dead and invites public institutions to help those who have lost their homes.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 21, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Miguel Delgado Galindo, official at the Pontifical Council for the Laity, as bureau chief of the same council.

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LIFE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 21, 2002 (VIS) - In the Vatican from February 25 to 27, the eighth general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life will be held on the theme: "Nature and dignity of the human being as a foundation for the right to life."

Over the three days, specialists in philosophy, ethics, law and theology will hold discussions on the theme of the gathering. A communique on the subject reads: "The subject matter was prepared by the group of relators during earlier meetings. They reflected at length on the various viewpoints and implications of this immense and delicate topic."

On the one hand, says the communique, "there exists a desire to discover the laws that govern the cosmos and the biosphere in order to be able to control them and, in this way, create new technologies. On the other hand, today, many widespread schools of thought reject the concept of nature in the ontological sense, as an essential and perennial structure of the human being." In the same way, "the concept of natural law in the ethical sense is frequently contested and thus the concept of natural rights is not admitted as the basis of the positive law created by legislatures at national and international level."

"The right to life is the discriminating and fundamental limit in the progress driven by the impulse of modern technology. This is the cardinal point of law and the first cornerstone on which society is built."

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