ANGELUS: BE AWARE OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 3, 2002 (VIS) - This morning, before praying the angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II recalled the "baptismal journey" formed by the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent; a journey that, in the early centuries of Christianity, concluded with the Baptism of catechumens during the Easter vigil.

He went on: "Unfortunately, in many areas of ancient Christian tradition, there is an ever-greater loss of any genuine religious sense. Consequently, it has become urgent for Christians to renew their awareness of their own identity; in other words, they must rediscover their Baptism, treasuring the inexhaustible spiritual vigor of sanctifying grace that they thereby received, to then take it to all fields of personal and social life."

Following the angelus, the Holy Father expressed his "sadness and concern" at the conflict taking place in Madagascar. "I trust in the traditional composure and peaceful nature of the Madagascan people. I call upon those in charge to start once again - faithfully, courageously and with a view only to the common good - down the paths of dialogue in order to find a rapid solution to this grave crisis."

The Pope also dedicated some words to the situation in Jerusalem, saying that the news from that city made him "profoundly sad. Violence, death and reprisals cannot but push the civilian population, be they Israeli or Palestinian, towards desperation and hatred. May an immediate cease fire together with a renewed sense of humanity, with respect for international law, silence arms and cause the voice of reason to be heard."

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STUDENTS: BE SALT OF THE EARTH AND LIGHT OF THE WORLD

VATICAN CITY, MAR 2, 2002 (VIS) - Today at 6 p.m. in the Paul VI Hall, thousands of Roman university students participated in a Marian prayer vigil and the recitation of the holy rosary led by the Pope. During the gathering, there were live radio and television connections with university students in Vienna, Athens, Budapest, Moscow, Strasbourg and Valencia.

The Holy Father arrived at the hall at 7 p.m. and led the holy rosary in front of the image of Our Lady of Loreto, which will be presented to the youth of Toronto on March 24, Palm Sunday and diocesan World Youth Day, a preparation for the 17th World Youth Day.

Once the rosary was finished, John Paul II greeted the Roman college students as well as the youth of the different European cities connected by live video linkup with the Paul VI Hall.

The most moving moment of the evening occurred when the Pope spoke in Russian to university students gathered in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, to whom he said: "Let us always be united in the faith and in service to the Gospel." The young people responded with applause that lasted four minutes. Immedietly after, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, metropolitan of the archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, said in Italian: "We are waiting for you in Russia", and the Holy Father answered: "Arrivederci!"

The Pope concluded in Italian by saying: "Beloved young people, I urge you to promote dialogue between faith and culture in the universities, so that the leaven of the Gospel stimulates and sustains the spiritual and moral quality of your studies and research."

"Only new men and women can renew history. This is your great challenge, beloved young people of Europe. The upcoming World Youth Day in Toronto, which I hope many of you will attend, will help you to understand better this apostolic urgency: to be, at the beginning of the third millennium, 'salt of the earth and light of the world'." He concluded: "Young people of Rome, I have an appointment with you on Thursday March 21 in St. Peter's Square for the traditional celebration and prayer service in preparation for World Youth Day."

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ABOVE ALL, SEEK AND DO THE WILL OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, MAR 2, 2002 (VIS) - This morning John Paul II received Mother Rita Burley, superior general of the Servants of the Heart of Jesus, and the sisters who are participating in the order's 17th general congregation in Rome.

The Pope affirmed that the upcoming commemoration of the 125 years of the foundation of the institute "must be a privileged occasion to give a new impulse to the desire repeated so many times by the founder, St. Rafaela Maria, that the life of every sister be 'a tapestry of faith and generosity'."

After referring to the difficulties the sisters face in carrying out their mission, due to conditions of extreme poverty and injustice, he declared that there were many occasions "in which obstacles to total identification with the mission are to be found in the lives of individuals and communities themselves, who at times surrender to tedium in the fulfillment of activities that are considered poorly recognized or that yield scarce results in the short term. In these circumstances, a true spirit of service must come to the fore, joyfully making the radical choice, above all, to seek and do the will of God."

The Holy Father expressed the gratitude of the Church to the sisters for their service "to evangelization, both through the testimony of life and the activity that you carry out in different fields of education, the care of spiritual centers, youth pastoral services and the promotion of the disadvantaged
in society."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Six prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Argentina, on their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Jose Lorenzo Sartori of San Roque de Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena.
- Bishop Jose Vicente Conejero Gallego of Formosa.
- Bishop Luis Guillermo Eichhorn of Gualeguaychu.
- Bishop Martin de Elizalde O.S.B., of Nueve di Julio.
- Bishop Carlos Maria Franzini of Rafaela.
- Bishop Carlos Humberto Malfa of Chascomus.

On Saturday, March 2, he received in separate audiences:

- Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello, apostolic nuncio in Mexico.
- Five prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Argentina, on their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Charbel Merhi of San Charbel in Buenos Aires.
- Bishop Ruben Oscar Frassia of Avellaneda-Lanus.
- Bishop Alejandro Antonio Buccolini S.D.B., of Rio Gallegos.
- Bishop Francisco Polti Santillan of Santo Tome.
- Bishop Guillermo Jose Garlatti of San Rafael.

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ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PROHIBITS CONSTRUCTION OF NAZARETH MOSQUE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration:

"The Holy See has learned with satisfaction of the Israeli government's decision to cancel the project for constructing a mosque in the immediate vicinity of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, thus re-establishing legality, respect for the Holy Places and consideration for the respective communities of believers.

"It is to be hoped that the traditional harmonious co-existence between Muslims and Christians in Nazareth, endangered by a provocative initiative, may continue with the assistance of the authorities and of the entire population.

"As may be easily understood, this is not a decision against Muslims, whose own political and religious authorities - in the region and in the world - mostly expressed themselves contrary to a project that offended the sensibility of the Christian world and of pilgrims."

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POPE SENDS ASSISI DECALOGUE FOR PEACE TO HEADS OF STATE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 2002 (VIS) - John Paul II sent a letter accompanied by the "Assisi Decalogue for Peace" to all heads of State and government today. The decalogue was signed at the end of the Day of Prayer for Peace in the World which was celebrated in Assisi on January 24, 2002.

In the letter, signed on February 24, 2002, the Pope affirms that "the participants in the meeting of Assisi were inspired more than ever by one common conviction: humanity much choose between love and hate."

The decalogue is as follows:

1. We commit ourselves to proclaiming our firm conviction that violence and terrorism are opposed to all true religious spirit and we condemn all recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion. We undertake to do everything possible to eradicate the causes of terrorism.

2. We commit ourselves to educate people about respect and mutual esteem in order to achieve peaceful coexistence and solidarity among members of different ethnic groups, cultures and religions.
3. We commit ourselves to promote the culture of dialogue so that understanding and trust may develop among individuals and peoples as these are the conditions of authentic peace.

4. We commit ourselves to defend the right of all human beings to lead a dignified life, in accordance with their cultural identity, and to start their own family freely.

5. We commit ourselves to engage in dialogue with sincerity and patience, without considering what separates us as an insurmountable wall, on the contrary, recognizing that facing our differences can become an occasion for greater reciprocal understanding.

6. We commit ourselves to pardon each other's errors and prejudices of the past and present, and to support one another in the common struggle against egoism and abuses, hatred and violence, and in order to learn from the past that peace without justice is not true peace.

7. We commit ourselves to stand at the side of those who suffer poverty and abandonment, speaking out for those who have no voice and taking concrete action to overcome such situations, in the conviction that no one can be happy alone.

8. We commit ourselves to make our own the cry of those who do not surrender to violence and evil, and we wish to contribute with all our strength to give a real hope of justice and peace to the humanity of our time.

9. We commit ourselves to encourage all initiatives that promote friendship between peoples, in the conviction that, if a solid understanding between peoples is lacking, technological progress exposes the world to increasing dangers of destruction and death.

10. We commit ourselves to ask the leaders of nations to make every possible effort so as to build, at both national and international level, a world of solidarity and peace founded on justice.

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IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, MAR 4, 2002 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

- Bishop Michele Alagna Fodera S.D.B., emeritus of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira, Brazil, on January 11, 2002, at the age of 89.
- Archbishop Alexander Goncalves Amaral, emeritus of Uberaba, Brazil, on February 5, 2002, at the age of 96.
- Bishop Michael Joseph Begley, emeritus of Charlotte, U.S.A., on February 9, 2002, at the age of 92.
- Bishop Alexander Carter, emeritus of Sault Sainte Marie, Canada, on February 17, 2002, at the age of 92.
- Bishop Telesforo Giovanni Cioli O.Carm., emeritus of Arezzo, Cortona, Sansepolcro, Italy, on January 15, 2002 at the age of 94.
- Bishop Vincenzo Cirrincione of Piazza Armerina, Italy, on Feruary 12, 2002, at the age of 75.
- Bishop Ernesto Goncalves Costa O.F.M., emeritus of Faro, Portugal, on January 7, 2002, at the age of 80.
- Bishop Aloysius Josef G. Dibjokarjono, emertius of Surabaya, Indonesia, on January 23, 2002, at the age of 84.
- Bishop Juan Bautista Herrada Armijo O.M., emeritus of Antofagasto, Chile, on January 21, 2002, at the age of 79.
- Bishop Herminio Malzone Hugo, emeritus of Governador Valadares, Brazil, on February 20, 2002, at the age of 86.
- Bishop John Raymond McGann, emeritus of Rockville Center, U.S.A., on January 29, 2002, at the age of 77.
- Archbishop Eduardo Andre Muaca, emeritus of Luanda, Angola, on January 26, 2002, at the age of 77.
- Bishop Eliseu Maria Gomes de Olivera O.Carm., emeritus of Itabuna, Brazil, on February 11, 2002, at the age of 81.
- Bishop Manuel Lisboa de Oliveira, emeritus of Nazare, Brazil, on January 24, 2002, at the age of 85.
- Bishop Marius Pare, emeritus of Chicoutimi, Canada, on February 16, 2002, at the age of 85.
- Bishop Gabino Peral de la Torre O.S.A., former apostolic vicar of Iquitos, Colombia, on January 24, 2002, at the age of 78.
- Bishop Elias Prado Tello, former auxiliary of Ayacucho, Peru, on February 14, 2002, at the age of 91.
- Bishop Lawrence Joseph Riley, former auxiliary of Boston, U.S.A., on December 2, 2002, at the age of 87.
- Bishop Hernando Rojas Ramirez, emeritus of Neiva, Colombia, on February 14, 2002, at the age of 77.
- Bishop Frans Simons S.V.D., emeritus of Indore, India, on January 28, 2002 at the age of 93.
- Bishop Alexander Sye Cheong-Duk, auxiliary of Taegu, Korea, on December 22, 2002, at the age of 64.
- Bishop Fiorino Tagliaferri, emeritus of Viterbo, Italy, on February 22, 2002, at the age of 80.
- Bishop Hovhannes Tertsakian C.A.M., former apostolic exarch for the Armenian faithful resident in Canada and U.S.A., on January 28, 2002, at the age of 78.
- Bishop Carlo Urru, emeritus of Citta di Castello, Italy, on February 2, 2002, at the age of 86.
- Archbishop Alois Wagner, former permanent observer to the United Nations Food and Agriculture organizations and organisms, on February 26, 2002, at the age of 77.

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