WORK OF THE HOLY CHILDHOOD: CHILDREN HELPING CHILDREN

VATICAN CITY, JUN 14, 2003 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall the Holy Father welcomed 8,000 children of the Pontifical Work of the Holy Childhood, which this year is celebrating the 160th anniversary of its founding by Bishop Charles de Forbin-Janson of Nancy, France. Accompanying them were priests and animators as well as Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The Pontifical Work of the Holy Childhood is one of the four branches of the Pontifical Missionary Works and is, in the Pope's words, "children helping children." It assists more than one billion children worldwide - of whom about 300,000 are Catholic - in its principal activities of missionary formation, animation, organization and cooperation. The other missionary works are Propagation of the Faith, St. Peter Apostle and the Pontifical Missionary Union.

Pope John Paul, in his talk to the young people today, remarked that "in your hearts and on your lips God put three little words, 'here I am', which are so important in the Bible. The Son of God said them when He came into the world and His entire life was an immediate response of 'here I am' to the heavenly Father. The Virgin Mary also said 'here I am' when she welcomed the announcement from God. ... You too, my dear little missionaries, must also learn to answer 'here I am'.

He added that "it is beautiful to think of the Pontifical Work of the Holy Childhood as an immense chorus, formed by children from throughout the world, who together sing their 'here I am' to God with their prayers, their enthusiasm and their concrete commitment!"

John Paul II noted that "there have been great and profound changes in mankind" since the pontifical work was founded. "In the so-called 'north' of the world, the living conditions for infants have improved, but economic and social development has not always been accompanied by human development in its fullest sense. A loss of values has been noted and those who pay the highest price are often the smallest ones, without mentioning that even in developed nations there are areas of great poverty."

The Pope added that "in the 'south' of the planet, the cry of millions of children who are condemned to die by hunger and illness linked to poverty, has become more heart-rending and it calls out to everyone."

"Dear children of the Holy Childhood," he concluded, "you are the first to answer this appeal. You form a chain of human solidarity across five continents and offer the possibility to even the poorest to 'give' and to the richest 'to receive' thorough giving."

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