GENERAL AUDIENCE: DISCOVERING EVIL AND ASKING FOR PARDON

VATICAN CITY, JUL 30, 2003 - Psalm 50, the famous "Miserere" or "Have mercy on me, Lord," was the theme of the Holy Father's catechesis during this Wednesday's general audience, celebrated in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo.

The Pope said that this psalm is "proposed to us every Friday so that it may become an oasis of meditation where we can discover the evil that nests within our conscience and ask the Lord for purification and pardon. ... However, the message of hope of the 'Miserere' that the psalmist puts on the lips of David, a converted sinner, is this: God can 'erase, clean, purify' any failing confessed with a contrite heart."

Referring to the end of the psalm, "an end full of hope because the sinner is conscious of having been forgiven," he affirmed: "His mouth will proclaim to the world praise for the Lord, attesting to the joy that the soul, which is purified from evil and therefore freed from remorse, experiences."

John Paul II underlined that "the Psalm concludes in an unexpected way. ... From the last petition of a single sinner, it goes to a prayer for the reconstruction of the whole city of Jerusalem." In the final part, he continued, there is a "later addition" to "correct or at least to complete the outlook of the Psalm of David." On the one hand, the psalmist did not want it to be one individual prayer; it was necessary to also think about the plight of the whole city. On the other hand, the psalmist wanted to put the divine rejection of sacrificial rituals into perspective."

"Sinners are not capable of purifying themselves alone; good intentions are not sufficient," he concluded, adding: "Effective external meditation is necessary. The New Testament will reveal the full meaning of this intuition, showing that by offering His life, Christ made the perfect sacrifice."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 30, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Les Gonaives, Haiti, presented by Bishop Emmanuel Constant upon having reached the age limit. Bishop Yves-Marie Pean, C.S.C., coadjutor of the same diocese, succeeds him.

- Appointed Professor Jaroslav Sturma, lecturer on Child Psychology and Psychology of religion at the Carl of Prague University, Czech Republic, as an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

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