AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 25, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- His Royal Highness Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, crown prince and vice prime minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and his entourage. - Yuri Mikhailovic Luzhkov, mayor of Moscow, accompanied by his wife and entourage.
- William Porter and Bernard Margueritte, respectively president and vice president of the International Communications Forum.
- Archbishop Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Bishop Diarmuid Martin and Msgr, Giampaolo Crepaldi, respectively president, secretary and under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

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"TO BE A MISSIONARY CHURCH": A CHALLENGE FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

VATICAN CITY, MAY 22, 1999 (VIS) - This evening, the vigil of Pentecost, the Pope presided at a Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter's Square to mark the closing of the Citizens' Mission of Rome.

John Paul II thanked all the "missionaries, priests, religious and, above all, lay people who have been the first beneficiaries of the grace of the Mission. The generous commitment with which you have prepared yourselves and carried the Gospel into homes and into the urban environment has opened new paths for evangelization."

The Holy Father exhorted priests to be "judicious guides and attentive teachers of faith in the community," asked religious to continue to support the Mission through prayer and entreated lay people to "give life to a great and permanent missionary movement in the city and in all its environments." He also recalled the contribution made to the Citizens' Mission by the sick with the offer of their suffering and by cloistered nuns through their constant prayer.

The Pope proposed that a meeting take place that may serve to draw "the guide lines for a permanent commitment to missionary evangelization," in order that the seed sown in the three years of the Mission "not be lost" but produce fruit. "To be a missionary Church: This is the great challenge in the coming years for Rome and for the whole world."

He exclaimed: "The Gospel that Jesus entrusted to us is the Gospel of peace. How can we keep it to ourselves, especially at this moment when oppression and war are sowing destruction and death in the neighboring region of the Balkans? The Spirit urges us to proclaim and to work for peace in justice and reconciliation. It is in this sense that I would like, in the forthcoming feast of Corpus Christi, a single choral invocation for peace to arise from the Church of Rome. I invite everyone ... to join me" in the Mass and Eucharistic procession of June 3 "to entreat together the gift of peace in the Balkans."

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POPE THANKS MACEDONIA FOR AID GIVEN TO REFUGEES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 22, 1999 (VIS) - Pope John Paul this morning welcomed a delegation from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and thanked the country and its people for offering "a haven of safety" to the refugees from the war in Yugoslavia. The delegation was led by Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski.

In greeting them, he recalled that they were in Rome because "every year the feast of the Apostles of the Slavs, Cyril and Methodius, brings a delegation ... to Rome to honor the relics of Saint Cyril in the Church of St. Clement."

"For many weeks now," the Pope added, speaking English, "you and your people have been caught up in the terrible crisis which day after day is bringing untold suffering, death and destruction to the Balkans, leaving hundreds of thousands of human beings mourning the loss of their family members, their property, and their basic human rights. Despite the enormous difficulties involved, your own country has become a haven of safety for many refugees and you are bravely and generously trying to alleviate their immediate distress and misery.

"In expressing to you and your fellow citizens my own and the Church's appreciation of all that you are doing," the Holy Father continued, "I again appeal with all my heart to those responsible to bring an end to the violence and to engage in an open and sincere dialogue aimed at creating a just and lasting basis for agreement and peace.

"My earnest prayer," he concluded, "is that, through the intercession of the two holy Brothers, the entire region will rediscover the brotherly communion of all its peoples, so that when the present violence and distrust have been overcome it may be for the rest of Europe and the world a clear example of just and peaceful coexistence in mutual respect and liberty."

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THREE PRIESTS ARE ORDAINED IN RUSSIA, FIRST TIME IN 82 YEARS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 1999 (VIS) - Today, Solemnity of Pentecost, three seminarians from Queen of the Apostles Major Seminary in St. Petersburg, Russia were ordained as priests, the first Catholic priests to have prepared and been ordained in Russia since 1917. Two of the new priests were born in Russia and the third was born in Estonia.

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, apostolic administrator of European Russia, presided at the ordination Mass, which took place in the seminary's Dormition of the Virgin Church. Though the newly ordained priests are of the Latin rite, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, attended the ceremony.

The original seminary was opened in 1877. It was confiscated by authorities at the start of the communist revolution and used as a military hospital. Only the top floor of the seminary's building complex has since been returned to the Church. It was re-inaugurated as a seminary on September 1, 1993 and in 1996 was recognized by the ministry of education as an institute of higher education.

The seminary's Church of the Dormition was closed in June 1930, returned to the Catholic Church several years ago and was re-consecrated on May 24, 1998. It is one of only four buildings of the original 50 Church structures which existed before the revolution to have been returned to the Church.

When the seminary re-opened in 1993, there were 12 students. Today there are 48.

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PENTECOST TRANSFORMED THE DISCIPLES INTO FEARLESS WITNESSES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 1999 (VIS) - Speaking from his study window to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square to pray the Regina Coeli, the Pope said that today's solemnity of Pentecost, "makes us relive the extraordinary experience that the Apostles had fifty days after Christ's Resurrection," when they were "transformed from fearful followers into fearless witnesses, courageously announcing the Good News to all peoples."

"Gathered in unified prayer in the Cenacle, with Mary," he went on, "they are sent by the Spirit of truth to transform the entire world into a cenacle of love and truth. Both dimensions - prayer and apostolate, communion and mission - are indispensable for the life of the Church in every time and place."

"We prepared for this great feast last evening, here in St. Peter's Square, with a solemn vigil which concluded the Citizens' Mission of Rome," the Holy Father stated. "What an extraordinary experience! It reminded us of last year's great meeting with ecclesial movements and new communities, which are a true gift of the Spirit of the Church at the end of the millennium and one of the new signs which came from Vatican Council II." He remarked that "last year's meeting produced a precious harvest. In fact, what has multiplied are the initiatives aimed at nourishing a sense of communion among movements and communities, whose scope is to increase mutual collaboration."

"Let us thank the Lord for this promising springtime of the Church," the Pope said in conclusion. "The secularized world asks each Christian to reinvigorate his own missionary impulse, basing it on a radical experience of faith in Christ, an experience made of prayer, unity and proclamation."

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