OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 1, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Msgr. Gilbert Louis as bishop of Chalons (area 6,502, population 268,000, Catholics 249,000, priests 107, religious 123), France. The bishop-elect was born in Champsecret, France, in 1940, was ordained a priest in 1965, and since 1988 has been vicar general of the diocese of Sees.

- Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture as his special envoy at the commemoration of the Millennium of the election of Pope Silvester II, which will take place in Aurillac, France, on April 11, 1999.
On Saturday February 27 it was made public that the Holy Father appointed Archbishop Piero Biggio, apostolic nuncio in Chile, as nuncio in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 1, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Archbishop Armando Dini of Campobasso, Italy, on an "ad limina" visit.
- Archbishop Giorgio Zur, president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.
- Heungsoo Kim, ambassador of Korea, accompanied by his wife and children, on a farewell visit.
- Nine prelates from the Italian Episcopal Conference on their "ad limina" visit:
- Archbishop Enzio d'Antonio of Lanciano-Ortona.
- Archbishop Francesco Cuccarese of Pescara-Penne.
- Archbishop Antonio Nuzzi, bishop of Teramo-Atri.
- Archbishop Giuseppe Molinari of L'Aquila.
- Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Chieti-Vasto.
- Bishop Antonio Santucci of Trivento.
- Bishop Giuseppe Di Falco of Sulmona-Valva.
- Bishop Domenico Umberto D'Ambrosio of Termoli-Larino.
- Bishop Andrea Gemma of Isernia-Venafro.

On Saturday February 27 he also received:

- Bishop Andre-Mutien Leonard of Namur, Belgium, preacher of the spiritual exercises.
- Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima, Peru.
- Archbishop Thomas Yeh Sheng-nan, apostolic nuncio in Sri Lanka.
- Don Pramudwinai, ambassador of Thailand, with his wife, on a farewell visit.
- Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
- Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar for the diocese of Rome, Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Fisichella, Fr. Francesco Dell'Uomo, pastor of the parish of Holy Mary Star of the Sea, with a parish curate.

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ACADEMY FOR LIFE: NO TO EUTHANASIA, NO TO ASSISTED SUICIDE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 26, 1999 (VIS) - The Church's condemnation of euthanasia and assisted suicide has been reiterated in the first days of meetings of the Fifth General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, according to a communique made public today by participants in the assembly. The four-day meeting in the Vatican's Old Synod Hall began on February 24 on the theme "Death and the Dying Person."

"What has emerged with force," says the communique, "is the Church's position of condemnation of death which is inflicted or administered because of 'false pity'. According to Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 'euthanasia and assisted suicide represent a double attack on life, even if there is the presumed will of the patient to leave this earthly life'."

Bishop Sgreccia, adds the communique, "appealed to 'the reasonable forces of society' to side against behavior of abandoning the terminally ill and against administering death to a person who is dying. He also appealed for appropriate care for those who are ill, in particular stopgap measures and home care."

The communique explains that the juridical aspects of euthanasia were addressed in the meeting, looking at those countries where it is illegal, but not punishable in a court, to those which have "a criteria of justified necessity, which means 'a lesser evil' (euthanasia) in order to avoid a great one (the patient's suffering)."

The communique concludes with a summary of the Church's position: "What is important is to maintain the quality of life of the patient, even during their last days, without having recourse to aggressive therapy and without causing direct anticipation of death."

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THE PILGRIM'S CARD IN THE JUBILEE YEAR

VATICAN CITY, FEB 26, 1999 (VIS) - A second press conference to report on organizational aspects of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 was held this morning at the Holy See Press Office.

Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, secretary of the Central Committee of the Great Jubilee, and Francesco Silvano, delegate for telecommunications and information technology, spoke on the Pilgrim's Card and the computerized system of welcoming pilgrims.

The card has the purpose, said Archbishop Sepe, "of knowing and verifying the flux of tourists who will come to Rome in order to ... guarantee that pilgrims, especially those who have travelled from far away, take part in events scheduled on the Jubilee calendar." Other aims are "to provide civil authorities with information on the presence of tourists in Rome on a daily basis" so as to organize the services involving volunteers, safety, city and suburban transport, sanitation and food.
Francesco Silvano explained that the Pilgrim's Card will have a memory chip with the person's health data so as to facilitate medical attention if necessary; the information concerning the events for which the pilgrim has booked; and information relating to meals.

The pilgrim who has this card will be able to use all public transport available at an advantageous price and, paying in advance, will be able to telephone from any of the 130,000 telephones that there will be in Italy. Likewise, certain goods can be purchased at reduced prices during the Jubilee year.

In reality, said Mr. Silvano, "there are several types of Pilgrim's Card": one for Italians and foreigners; another to take part in only one event and which is valid for a day, and another for Roman citizens. For example, the one-day card will cost 10,000 lire, and the card covering urban transport and telephone calls will cost 50,000 lire. Groups of foreign pilgrims will receive their card when they arrive in Italy.

Luca De Mata spoke of the new Holy See web site dedicated to the Jubilee, opening with words from Pope John Paul's 1980 Encyclical "Dives in Misericordia": "The development of computer technology will multiply the creative capacities of people and will allow them to have access to the intellectual and cultural riches of other peoples."

Dr. De Mata recalled that new Internet site (www.jubil2000.org) 'was completely created by the Central Committee in collaboration with various offices of the Holy See and the editorial division of the Central Committee: it became active on February 22, 1999, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. The very first day there were 45,000 hits." Visitors who navigate this web site, he added, can hear the Holy Father's voice, read daily information from the Holy See Press Office, Vatican Information Service and L'Osservatore Romano, and listen to news from Vatican Radio.


Explaining that the site is structured in seven languages - Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish - he announced that "on the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, we wish to present the Holy Father with the site in Russian and, for the 21st anniversary of his election on October 16, 1999 to add Chinese and Arabic to the web site. On December 13, 1999, feast of St. Lucy, the blind will also be able to have access to this site."

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VATICAN TV'S JUBILEE PROJECT LOOKS TO 2000 AND BEYOND

VATICAN CITY, FEB 25, 1999 (VIS) - The four corners of the globe will be linked electronically with each other and with Rome and the Vatican for the Jubilee Year 2000 celebrations by means of a multi-media interactive project called "TV Beyond 2000," which was created by the Vatican Television Center (CTV) for the Holy Year.

This project, explains Fr. Ugo Moretto, CTV director general, intends to achieve "a planetary dialogue from the north to the south of the world, including countries with high tech infrastructures as well as countries with more modest resources, from the Fiji Islands to Antarctica, from the North to the South Pole, from Alaska to the Amazonian forests."

According to Fr. Moretto, the potential audience for this planetary dialogue is four billion people. The forthcoming Jubilee, he said, "must be an international event, not strictly a Roman celebration. It must be a year in which international dialogue is created among Christians and non-Christians alike, a year in which cultures interact with each other and participate in the Rome Jubilee, as Rome will participate in theirs." He stressed that one of the challenges facing the project is how to make the Jubilee - a momentous event commemorating the 2,000th birthday of Christ - also meaningful for non-Christians.

To implement this initiative, the CTV is currently preparing in Rome the TV Beyond 2000 Processing Center. Participating partners include Microsoft, Philips, Sony and Telecom Italia, each of which will provide their respective services free of charge, thus making this a non-profit venture. ESA, the European Space Agency will co-ordinate the technological aspects of TV Beyond 2000. CTV will provide the contents, such as the live broadcasts of all papal events during the Holy Year 2000.

Worldwide broadcast dates have already been set for four major Jubilee events: The simultaneous opening of 5,000 Holy Doors throughout the world on Christmas Day 1999 (the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica will be opened during the Christmas vigil Mass on December 24): Labor Day festivities on May 1: World Youth Day celebrations on August 19 and the millennium transition on December 31, 2000 and January 1, 2001. All special events will be transmitted live. Locally, a network may use a program live or defer its transmission in consideration of time zones.

Upon request broadcasters throughout the world will be able to receive and transmit the special events of TV Beyond 2000. The signal will be provided free of charge by the processing center in Rome. CTV has already been in touch with some of the world's major networks such as the American cable station CNN, Italy's RAI, Brazil's Rede Globo and Mexico's Televisa. Plans are also underway with Central China TV to televise some events. "The Chinese," said Fr. Moretto, "have shown a willingness to participate in this project, though for the moment no liturgical events will be broadcast. We have made contact, and are continuing to do so, with various Chinese government ministries, and so far we have found a great openness for this project."

Both digital and analogue satellite will be used in weaving together the complex series of transmissions and interactive video and audio links which are being planned. "We are also working on setting up a kind of dialogue with the Vatican," said Moretto. "We hope to achieve this through the Vatican's web site. We want people from throughout the world to take part in these celebrations, and to give us their reactions, feedback and contributions."

At the moment 152 contact points on five continents have been set up by CTV to assist in coordinating this project, and in publicizing events and transmissions schedules.

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