"THE CHURCH NEEDS CATHOLIC ACTION"

VATICAN CITY, APR 26, 2002 (VIS) - The Pope received at midday today in the Paul VI Hall 1,500 participants in the 11th National Assembly of Italian Catholic Action whom he thanked for their "love of the Church" and their "commitment to parish communities in ordinary life."

The Holy Father urged them to continue building "ties of communion and dialogue" among the people of God. He underlined the importance of "truly shaping Christian consciences through formation directed toward young people and adults, toward children and the elderly, to families and adolescents."

"The Church needs Catholic Action. The Church needs groups of lay people, faithful to their vocation and closely united to legitimate pastors who are willing to share, alongside them, the daily effort of evangelization in all environments. ... The Church needs lay people whose experience manifests in a concrete and daily way the greatness and joy of Christian life; ... lay people who do not reduce the faith to a private matter and do not hesitate to carry the leaven of the Gospel to the fabric of human relations and institutions."

John Paul II asked the members of Catholic Action to "put out into the deep, 'Duc in altum!'", and to be "a prophetic presence in the world, promoting those dimensions of life often forgotten and as a result so urgent, such as interior life and silence, responsibility and education, volunteerism and service, sobriety and fraternity, hope in tomorrow and love of life. Work effectively so that today's society recovers the true sense of man and his dignity, the value of life and family, of peace and solidarity, of justice and mercy."

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CELEBRATIONS PRESIDED OVER BY THE POPE: MAY - AUGUST

VATICAN CITY, APR 26, 2002 (VIS) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has made public the calendar of celebrations over which the Holy Father will preside from May to August 2002.

MAY

- Sunday 5, Pastoral visit to the diocese of Ischia.

- Sunday 19, Pentecost Sunday: St. Peter's Square at 10 a.m., the canonization of Blesseds Alonso de Orozco, Ignazio da Santhia, Umile da Bisignano, Paulina do Coracao Agonizante de Jesus and Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello.

- Wednesday 22 to Sunday 26, Solemnity of the Holy Trinity: Apostolic visit to Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.

- Thursday 30, Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ: In St. John Lateran at 7 p.m., Mass and procession to St. Mary Major, Eucharistic Benediction.

JUNE

- Sunday 16, Canonization of Blessed Pio da Pietrelcina in St. Peter's Square at 10 a.m.

- Saturday 29, Solemnity of St. Peter and Paul, Apostles: In the Vatican Basilica at 9:30 a.m., Mass and imposition of the palliums.

JULY

- Tuesday 23, start of apostolic trip to Toronto, Guatemala City and Mexico City (for the 17th World Youth Day, and the canonizations of Blessed Pedro de San Jose de Betancur and Blessed Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin).

AUGUST

- Friday 2, return to Rome from apostolic trip.

- Thursday 15, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: 8 a.m. Mass at the Apostolic Palace in Castelgandolfo.

- Friday 16 to Monday 19, Apostolic trip to Poland.

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MAN, NOT MONEY OR TECHNOLOGY, IS PROTAGONIST OF DEVELOPMENT

VATICAN CITY, APR 26, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a Message to the young people of FUCI, the Italian Catholic University Federation, on the eve of their national congress on the theme "Solidarity in the Network of Interdependencies."

The Pope noted that their theme touches upon "the progressive intensification of relations among peoples, a phenomenon that is described today by the term 'globalization'. ... The growing interdependence among peoples, while it calls for a refusal of terrorism and violence as a practical way to build the essential conditions of justice and freedom, demands above all a strong moral, cultural and economic solidarity and a political organization of international society that can guarantee the rights of all peoples."

"The solution to the evil of underdevelopment and the dramatic situations in which millions of people live and die," wrote John Paul II, "is fundamentally of an ethical nature, and to it must correspond coherent economic and political choices. ... It is man who is the protagonist of development, not money or technology."
He said, in conclusion, that there must also be "a reform of international trade and the global financial system, but everyone is called to assume precise commitments according to their own possibilities, modifying when necessary, their own lifestyle in order to attain a development that is marked by fairness and solidarity."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 26, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Patrick Daniel Koroma, director of National Charities, as bishop of Kenema (area 15,710, population 1,000,000, Catholics 20,490, priests 18, religious 35), Sierra Leone. The bishop-elect was born in 1950 into a Muslim family and was ordained a priest in 1977. The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese presented by Bishop John C. O'Riordan C.S.Sp., upon having reached the age limit.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 26, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences:

- Jaroslaw Kalinowski, vice-president of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Agriculture of Poland, accompanied by his wife and an entourage.
- Two prelates of the Episcopal Conference of Nigeria on their "ad limina" visit:
- Archbishop Peter Yariyok Jatau of Kaduna.
- Archbishop Anthony J.V. Obinna of Owerri.
- Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.
- Delegation of the Society of Swiss Students from the "Helvetia Romana" Association.

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