POPE GIVES THANKS FOR PROGRESS MADE ON ECUMENICAL PATH

VATICAN CITY, NOV 4, 2003 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from the Pope to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and the members, consultants, and officials of the dicastery on the occasion of the plenary assembly that they are celebrating on the theme 'Ecumenical Spirituality.'

In the message, dated November 3, the Holy Father writes: 'Twenty five years after my election to the See of Peter, I thank the Lord because I am able to say that on the path of ecumenism, despite certain events, important and significant steps have been made towards the goal of Christian unity.'

'Certainly,' he continues, 'the path of ecumenism is not easy. ' The goal of visible full communion can at times create painful circumstances and reactions in those who want to speed up the process at all costs, or in those who get discouraged on the long path yet to be embarked upon. We, however, in the school of ecumenism, are learning to live with humble faith this intermediate period, aware that it continues to be a period of no return.'

John Paul II says: 'We want to overcome together differences and difficulties, we want to recognize together inadequacies and delays along the path to unity, we want to reestablish the desire of reconciliation where it seems threatened by diffidence and suspicion.'

After recalling the initiatives in ecumenism, such as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Pope indicates that he has also 'encouraged in many ways the faithful of the Catholic Church not to neglect in their daily dialogue with God, to pray specifically for the unity of Christians.'

'Only an intense ecumenical spirituality, lived out in docility to Christ and in full openness to the suggestions of the Spirit, will help us to live with the necessary energy this intermediate period during which we must take into account our progress and our challenges, the lights and shadows on our path of reconciliation.'

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 5, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Hubert Constant, O.M.I., of Fort-Liberte, Haiti as metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of Cap-Haitien (area 2,200, population 1,326,163, Catholics 757,648, priests 75, religious 132), Haiti. The archbishop-elect was born in Camp-Perrin, Haiti in 1931 and was ordained a priest in 1958. The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese, presented by Archbishop Francois Gayot, S.M.M., upon having reached the age limit.
- Appointed Fr. Afonso Fioreze, C.P., pastor in Itaborai, Brazil, as coadjutor bishop of Luziania (area 16,480, population 700,000, Catholics 500,000, priests 35, 111), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Rio Branco do Sul, Brazil in 1942 and was ordained a priest in 1970.

- Appointed Msgr. Carlo Liberati, delegate of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, as bishop prelate of Pompei and pontifical delegate for the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Most Holy Rosary of Pompei.

- Appointed Msgr. Giovanni Carru, pastor of the Duomo of Chieri in the archdiocese of Turin, Italy, as undersecretary of the Congregation for Clergy.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, NOV 5, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello, apostolic nuncio in Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

This afternoon he is scheduled to receive in audience Vladimir V. Putin, president of the Russian Federation, and an entourage.

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GENERAL AUDIENCE: COMMENTARY ON PSALM 140

VATICAN CITY, NOV 5, 2003 (VIS) - Psalm 140, 'Prayer in times of danger,' was the theme of John Paul II's catechesis during today's general audience celebrated in St. Peter's Square in which 18,000 people participated.

Psalm 140, said the Holy Father, 'reflects the spirit of prophetic theology that intimately unites worship and life, prayer and existence. The same prayer made with a pure and sincere heart becomes a sacrifice offered to God.'

The Pope affirmed that the psalm takes on a tone of petition to the Lord 'so that He does not allow our lips and sentiments to be infected by evil and so that 'evil actions' are not carried out. Words and actions are in fact the expression of a person's moral choices. Evil often is attractive enough to push even the faithful to taste the 'delicious foods' that sinners can offer, joining them at their table, that is participating in their perverse actions. The psalm almost acquires the tone of an examination of conscience which is followed by the commitment to always choose the ways of the Lord.'

'In order to express with great vehemence,' he continued, 'his radical disassociation from the evil one, the psalmist proclaims his indignant condemnation against him, which is expressed with colorful recourse to images of fiery judgement.'

John Paul II noted that the psalm ends with 'a final faithful invocation: it is a hymn of faith, gratitude and joy, in the certainty that the faithful will not be contaminated by the hate that the perverse reserve for themselves and that they will not fall into the trap set for them, after having noted their decisive choice for doing good.'

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IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, 5 NOV 2003 (VIS) - In recent weeks the following prelates died:

- Bishop Benito Stanislao Andreotti, O.S.B., former ordinary abbot of Subiaco, Italy, on October 16 at age 79.

- Bishop Luigi Bongianino, emeritus of Tortona, Italy, on October 14 at age 83.

- Bishop Antonin Liska, C.SS.R., emeritus of Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, on October 15 at age 79.

- Bishop Dennis Patrick O'Neil, auxiliary of San Bernardino, U.S.A., on October 17 at age 63.

- Archbishop Miguel Antonio Salas Salas, C.I.M., emeritus of Merida, Venezuela, on October 30 at age 88.

- Archbishop Ignatius Jerome Strecker, emeritus of Kansas City in Kansas, U.S.A., on October 16 at age 85.
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