ALL CARDINALS CALLED TO ROME FOR POPE'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 9, 2003 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, in a speech yesterday to inaugurate an international congress at the Pontifical Lateran University, announced that the entire College of Cardinals has been called to Rome to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul's election to the papacy on October 16. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has already sent a letter to the world's cardinals, inviting them to Rome for the October 16 anniversary.

Cardinal Sodano was speaking at the congress "John Paul II: 25 Years of Pontificate. The Church in the Service of the world." The three-day meeting which began yesterday is one of three meetings organized by the Great Events Office of the Lateran University to celebrate the Holy Father's silver anniversary as Roman Pontiff.

He stated that "all the cardinals will come to Rome next October because it is a historic date, a date in which we all take great joy." He then added: "I am happy that the university chose the pontificate at the service of man as a central theme. This is one of the Pope's great missions: the defense of liberty, of man, of human rights and of the rights of women."

A second commemorative meeting at the Lateran University will be held from October 9 to 11 on the theme, "The Desire to Know the Truth. Theology and Philosophy Five Years after 'Fides et Ratio'." The third congress will take place November 20 to 22 and is entitled "Walking in Light. Perspectives in Moral Theology Ten Years after 'Veritatis splendor'." On October 14 the university will hold a solemn academic event during which the "Karol Wojtyla" Chair will be inaugurated at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

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