CISTERCIANS: PRESERVE YOUR SPIRITUALITY

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2002 (VIS) - This morning in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo, the Holy Father received 220 abbots and abbesses of the Cistercian Order of Strict Observation who are celebrating their general chapter in Rome. "The Pope is grateful to you," he said at the beginning of his speech, "because from the silence of your cloisters incessant prayer ascends to heaven for your ministry and for the intentions and needs of the entire ecclesiastical community."

After John Paul II recalled that the two general chapters of the Order had gathered during these days "to reflect on how your common spiritual patrimony, while preserving the spirit of its origins, can better respond to the demands of the present moment."

"From their beginnings," explained the Holy Father, "the Cistercians were characterized by a 'mystical passion' demonstrating that a sincere search for God, through an ascetic way of life, can lead to the indescribable joy of a conjugal encounter with God in Christ. ... This elevated spirituality maintains its value as testimony in the present cultural context which too often encourages the desire for deceptive goods and artificial paradises. Your vocation ... is to give witness to the high ideal of sanctity which is summarized in unconditional love for God and, as a result, a love which in prayer mystically embraces all of humanity."

The Pope urged them to preserve their charismatic patrimony which he defined as "a source for all Christian people." Referring to the present context of the Order, he said that its development today put monks, "especially those in the Far East, in contact with different traditional religions with which it is necessary to promote prudent and wise dialogue so that the unique light of Christ shines in all places in the plurality of cultures. Jesus is the resplendent sun of whom the Church must be a faithful reflection."

"Do not lose heart," he said, "because of the trials and tribulations, as painful as they may be." And he recalled in particular the seven monks of Notre Dame d'Atlas, killed in Algeria in 1996. "May their bloodshed," he exclaimed, "be the seed for many holy vocations for your monasteries in Europe, where the old age of the communities of nuns and monks is noticeable, and in other parts of the planet where the urgency is another, that of guaranteeing the formation of those aspiring to the Cistercian life."

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RIO DE JANEIRO IS SITE OF 21ST CONGRESS OF APOSTLESHIP OF SEA

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2002 (VIS) - The Apostleship of the Sea, a section of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, will celebrate its 21st congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from September 29 to October 5, 2002, according to a communique published by the dicastery.

"The Apostleship of the Sea in a new globalized world" will be the theme of the congress in which about 250 delegates (bishops, priests, religious men and women, experts and observers) from more than 60 countries will analyze together the impact and effects of globalization on the maritime industries in the context of the pastoral solicitude of the Church "for the men and women of the sea."

"Globalization," says the text, "has created an environment of increased competition in the maritime industry, where profits must be optimized at all costs, and more than often this is achieved to the detriment of the dignity of those who work in this industry ... who suffer from difficult working conditions, long working hours, minimum wage, no leisure, insecurity of employment. Crews are reduced to a minimum and are often multicultural and multilingual, sometimes lacking a common language, thus making it even more lonely and dangerous an occupation."

"This is the first time that a Congress of the Apostleship of the Sea is being hosted by Latin America. However, Rio de Janeiro was chosen not only for reasons of ecclesial strategy - half of the Catholics of the whole world live in that continent today -but also because it was the seat of the historical Declaration of Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which proclaims that the human being must be at the heart of the concern for sustainable development and that any global policy should consider this as a basic principle."

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MESSAGE TO HOSPITAL NUNS OF MERCY

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2002 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from John Paul II to Sister Aurelia Damiani, superior general of the Congregation of the Hospital Religious of Mercy, and to the nuns who are celebrating the 62nd general chapter of the congregation during these days.
"Your mission has great merit!" writes the Pope. "With your work in hospitals, you help the sick and those who suffer, giving them witness to divine mercy. Keep this unique charisma alive."

Referring to care for the sick, the Holy Father affirms that it is "one of the most urgent ways of evangelization" and he invites the nuns to put into practice "'the imagination of charity ... that promotes not only the efficacy of the help lent but also the capacity to draw close to those who suffer'."

"The challenge of the lack of culture today requires believers to announce the Good News in languages and ways understandable to the people of our times. Before you unfold ... an urgent mission and vast apostolic perspectives. May concrete results spring forth from a close examination of the modern socio-cultural realities in order to make the presence of your institution more incisive in the field of health care, forging more ideal paths for apostolic endeavors at the same time."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences:

- Fatos Nano, prime minister of Albania, accompanied by his wife and an entourage.
- Bishop Luigi Antonio Secco, S.D.B., of Willemstad, Dutch Antilles, on his "ad Limina" visit.
- Bishop Franco Dalla Valle, S.D.B., of Juina, Brazil on his "ad Limina" visit.
- Bishop Canisio Klaus of Diamantino, Brazil on his "ad Limina" visit.

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ARCHBISHOP MARTIN: FULLY APPLY THE TREATY OF OTTAWA

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations Office and Specialized Institutions in Geneva, delivered a speech on September 17 during the Fourth Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, taking place from September 16 to 20.

In his speech, the archbishop recalls the final objective of the Treaty of Ottawa: "To remove these inhumane weapons definitively from the lives of entire populations." He states that the progress made since then shows that "more than 20 million mines destroyed and a drastic reduction in the number of producers" even if "230 million mines still remain to be eliminated" and there have been "over 20,000 deaths."

The head of the delegation of the Holy See underlines that "any delay or weakening of enthusiasm" in fully implementing the Ottawa Convention will only cause more victims and in an "era of interdependence it is no longer tolerable to condemn, through inaction, entire populations to live in fear and precariousness."

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