IN BRIEF

POPE JOHN PAUL TODAY RECEIVED HONORARY CITIZENSHIP from the city of Dubrovnik. In brief remarks the Holy Father thanked the members of the delegation from Croatia and said that this recognition is due to "the deep ties over many centuries that join Dubrovnik to the popes and it serves to recall the pastoral trip which I had the pleasure of making on June 6 last year."

THE ANNUAL MESSAGE BY ARCHBISHOP MICHAEL FITZGERALD to Buddhists around the world on their annual festival of Vesakh was published today. The theme of the message is: "Christians and Buddhists: we both regard children as the future of humanity." Archbishop Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, stresses the plight of many children without a stable family and those who are subject to all types of violence. "We, Christians and Buddhists," he writes, "cannot close our eyes to these tragic situations. As believers, we must be focused on the needs of children, in our families as well as in all of society."
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