JESUS MUST BE THE CENTER OF OUR PERSONAL LIFE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 8, 2002 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father received a group of pilgrims from the Italian archdiocese of Capua who came to Rome in commemoration of the Pope's pastoral visit of ten years ago, and participants in a congress sponsored by Italian Catholic Action.

The Pope urged the faithful of Capua to try to find Christ "with new ardor, to listen to His voice, He who calls you to a more intense evangelical faithfulness. He asks you to make Him present wherever man finds himself alone, rejected or humiliated due to sorrow or violence and wherever people, tired of human words, have a deep desire to be close to God."

After recalling the invitation that he made ten years ago to the young people of Capua to respond with generosity to Jesus' call, he said: "Today, ten years later, I desire to extend this invitation once again to young people: do not ever lose pride in being Christians, to be able to forge a friendship with Christ, to look for what He looks for, to behave as He behaved. Jesus must become the center of your life. He helps you to be the 'salt and leaven' of your land."

Subsequently, John Paul II addressed the participants in a congress on Armida Barelli, "who was known as the 'Big Sister' of the young women of Catholic Action."

"Follow with faithfulness the path laid out by this strong and fearless woman, imitating her aspiration to holiness, her missionary dedication and her civil and social commitment to instill the fields of culture, politics, business and free time with the leaven of the Gospel."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 10, 2002 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- Andres Pastrana Arango, president of the republic of Colombia, accompanied by his wife and an entourage.
- Bishop Timothy Joseph Carroll, apostolic vicar of Kontagora, Nigeria on his "ad limina" visit.
- Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier, professors from the World Foundation for Research and Prevention of AIDS.
- Megawati Soekarnoputri, president of the republic of Indonesia, accompanied by her husband and an entourage.

On Saturday June 8, the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- John Agyekum Kufuor, president of Ghana, accompanied by his wife and an entourage.
- Three prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela on their "ad limina" visit:
- Bishop Felipe Gonzalez Gonzalez, apostolic vicar of Tucupita.
- Bishop Jesus Alfonso Guerrero Contreras, apostolic vicar of Caroni.
- Bishop Jose Angel Divasson Cilvetti, apostolic vicar of Puerto Ayacucho.
- Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

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FAO SUMMIT: SOLIDARITY, INSPIRING CRITERION FOR COOPERATION

VATICAN CITY, JUN 10, 2002 (VIS) - Made public today was a message by the Pope to the heads of State and government who are participating in the World Food Summit which is taking place from June 10 to 13 in Rome.

John Paul II recalls at the beginning of the message that at the previous summit in 1996, it was made clear that hunger and malnutrition are not only natural phenomena but also the result of a "more complex situation of underdevelopment."

"If the goals of the 1996 Summit have not been met, that can be attributed also to the absence of a culture of solidarity, and to international relations often shaped by a pragmatism devoid of ethical and moral foundations. Moreover, a cause for concern is to be found in the statistics according to which assistance given to poor countries in recent years appears to have decreased rather than increased."

The Holy Father affirms that "today more than ever there is an urgent need in international relationships for solidarity to become the criterion underlying all forms of cooperation, with the acknowledgment that the resources which God the Creator has entrusted to us are destined for all."

John Paul II expresses his joy that the present summit is pushing governments and governmental institutions toward a commitment to "guarantee the right to nutrition in cases where an individual State is unable to do so because of its own underdevelopment and poverty. Such a commitment can be seen as entirely necessary and legitimate, given the fact that poverty and hunger risk compromising even the ordered coexistence of peoples and nations, and constitute a real threat to peace and international security."

"Hence the importance of the present World Food Summit," he concludes, "with its reaffirmation of the concept of food security and its call for a mobilization of solidarity aimed at reducing by half, by the year 2015, the number of people in the world who are undernourished and deprived of the bare necessities of life. This is an enormous challenge, and one to which the Church too is fully committed."

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ANGELUS: DEFEND CREATION, FOOD SUMMIT, ANGOLAN CRISIS

VATICAN CITY, 9 JUN, 2002 (VIS) - Before praying the angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope told them that today in Ravenna, Italy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholemew I celebrated a solemn liturgy, and that tomorrow he and the pope - by means of a special television linkup between Rome and Venice - will sign a joint "Declaration" in defence of creation.

"This event," the Pope went on, "falling a few months after the Day of Prayer for peace in Assisi, when the ecumenical patriarch was at my side, is another example of that shared intent that is a prelude to renewed and full communion. The very histories of Ravenna and Venice call and encourage us to continue along the path towards full unity between western and eastern Christians."

John Paul II went on to say that this morning, at the headquarters of the FAO in Rome, the World Food Summit is being inaugurated; a meeting in which heads of State and government from all over the world will be participating. "Millions of people," he said, "who suffer daily because of hunger and malnutrition hope that this gathering will confirm the commitments made in 1996. May God bless this meeting and illuminate leaders of nations that they may know how to express people's legitimate aspirations and to give fresh impulse to the struggle of the international community against hunger."

After the angelus, the Holy Father made reference to "the dear population of Angola who, following the suffering of a long and bloody civil war, now find themselves facing a dramatic humanitarian crisis because of a lack of food and the most basic medicines, as well as the constant danger of anti-personnel mines disseminated over the whole territory."

The Holy Father concluded by saying: "We ask that the Lord may illuminate all those who have the possibility to contribute to overcoming this tragedy, and that He bring them to act in such a way that the resources of the country may help all its inhabitants and be an aid to the entire continent of Africa."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 10, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Juan Garcia Rodriguez, auxiliary of Camaguey, Cuba, as metropolitan archbishop of the same archdiocese (area 18,671, population 858,351, Catholics 535,000, priests 25, permanent deacons 5, religious 52). The archbishop-elect was born in 1948 in Camaguey and was ordained a priest in 1972. He succeeds Archbishop Adolfo Rodriguez Herrera, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Jean-Pierre Tafunga, S.D.B., of Kilwa-Kasenga, Democratic Republic of Congo, as bishop of Uvira (area 36,000, population 374, 852, Catholics 221,471, priests 35, religious 31), Democratic Republic of Congo. He succeeds Bishop Jerome Gapangwa Nteziryayo, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.
It was made public on Saturday June 8 that the Holy Father:

- Appointed Fr. Alfred Leonhard Maluma, professor of moral theology at the Major Seminary of Peramiho, Tanzania, as bishop of Njombe (area 20,860, population 543,000, Catholics 230,000, priests 90, religious 419), Tanzania. The bishop-elect was born in 1955 in Lukani, Tanzania and was ordained a priest in 1985. He succeeds Bishop Raymond Mwanyika, S.M.M., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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