POPE IS RESTING THROUGH PRAYER, READING AND WALKS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 11, 2004 (VIS) - Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of the Holy See Press Office, who is accompanying the Pope while on vacation in Les Combes in northwest Italy from July 5 through July 17, spoke yesterday morning with journalists before the Holy Father prayed the Angelus.

  When asked about the Pope's decision to return a sacred icon of the Virgin of Kazan to the Russian Orthodox Church, Navarro-Valls said: "The decision is not related to the possibility of a meeting between the Pope and Alexis II in Russia, something  which was clear from the very beginning."  The Holy Father, he added, "feels the time is right to give it back to them." The icon, which has been in the Vatican for years, will be given back on August 28, feast of the Dormition of Our Lady according to the Orthodox liturgical calendar. Before returning it, there will be "an act of devotion, not necessarily public, ... an act of farewell which concludes the pilgrimage of the Madonna of Kazan to Rome." Details about the ceremony will be made available shortly.

  With respect to relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, the director of the press office told journalists that after the visit to Moscow of Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, they "have improved. It is a long process, and the Pope hopes that the restitution of the icon will contribute to further steps forward. The signs of improvement in relations are reflected in bilateral conversations, in the mixed commissions to identify and resolve problems between the Churches in a climate of collaboration."

  Responding to questions about Patriarch Bartholomew's invitation to the Pope to visit Istanbul, Turkey on November 30 on the occasion of the feast of St. Andrew, patron of the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople, Navarro-Valls said that "the Pope was grateful for the invitation but for the moment no decision has been made."

  Regarding the sentence of the International Court of the Hague on the construction by Israelis of a wall on the West Bank, Navarro-Valls indicated that "it is a weighty sentence because the United Nations has asked for it. Now we must see what governments do."

  The director also commented on John Paul II's vacation, saying it is "proceeding very well and, as has happened on other occasions, following some days of rest, he is better.  The cool climate allows him to sleep better and the outings keep him in very good spirits." What are the Pope's days like in Valle d'Aosta? "The Pope," he affirmed, "dedicates a lot of time to reading and to prayer, not only in the chapel, and to long conversations on various topics."

  The Holy Father, said Navarro-Valls, "is not preparing any document during these days of rest." About the hypothesis that he is writing a book on totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, he said: "During these days no, perhaps it is already finished, but I have not seen him work on this project here."
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