MAY WOMEN KEEP ALIVE THE AWARENESS OF THEIR VOCATION

VATICAN CITY, JAN 16, 2004 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father received the participants in the national congress of the Italian Women's Center as they reflect on the theme "Women as They Face the Expectations of the World."

He recalled that this Center, "inspired by Christian principles, makes every effort to help women in undertaking in an ever more responsible way their own role in society. Mankind today feels with increasing intensity the need to offer a sense and a scope to the world in which new problems which generate insecurity and confusion present themselves every day."

"The current era," he continued, "marked by the rapid succession of events, has seen the growing participation of women in every sector of civil, economic and religious life, starting with the family, the first and most vital cell of human society. This calls for, on your part, a constant attention to emerging problems and a generous farsightedness in facing them."

"It is important," the Pope told them, "for women to keep alive the awareness of this fundamental vocation: they fulfill themselves only in giving love. ... Their moral and spiritual strength comes from the awareness that 'God entrusts to women in a special way man, human beings'."

John Paul II underscored that "it is this which above all is the mission of every women, even in the Third Millennium. Live it fully and do not allow yourselves to be discouraged by difficulties and obstacles that you might meet along the way. On the contrary, always trusting in divine help, bring it to fulfillment with joy, expressing the female 'genius' that marks you."
AC/.../ITALIAN WOMEN'S CENTER VIS 20040116 (290)