CHINESE CARDINAL KUNG PIN-MEI DIES AT 98

VATICAN CITY, MAR 13, 2000 (VIS) - Following is the telegram sent by the Pope to Bishop Edward M. Egan of Bridgeport, U.S.A., upon the death yesterday of Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-mei, bishop of Shanghai and apostolic administrator of Soochow, at the age of 98. The cardinal had lived in recent years at Our Lady Queen of the Clergy Home in Stamford, Connecticut, which is in Bishop Egan's diocese.

"Deeply saddened to learn of the death of Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei, I ask you kindly to convey my heartfelt condolences to the Kung family and to all present at the solemn mass of Christian burial. I join all of you in giving thanks to Almighty God for the late cardinal's priestly and episcopal ministry in the diocese of Shanghai, his heroic fidelity to Christ amid persecution and imprisonment and his outstanding witness of communion with the universal Church and the Successor of Peter. Commending the soul of this noble son of China and of the Church to the infinite mercy of our Heavenly Father, I pray that having shared so deeply in Christ's sufferings he may now receive the unfading crown of glory which the chief shepherd reserves for those who have followed Him faithfully to the end. At the same time I renew my fervent prayer for the intentions of the Church in China, so close to the late cardinal's heart. To all I cordially impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of consolation and strength in our Lord Jesus Christ."

TGR;DEATH;...;PIN-MEI;VIS;20000313;Word: 220;

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 10, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Haim Ramon, Israeli government minister, accompanied by an entourage.
- Archbishop Marco Dino Brogi O.F.M., apostolic nuncio in Sudan and apostolic delegate in Somalia.
- Bishop Fernando Charrier of Alessandria, Italy.

This evening he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

AP;...;...;...;VIS;20000310;Word: 60;

CONSISTORY FOR CANONIZATIONS HELD THIS MORNING

VATICAN CITY, MAR 10, 2000 (VIS) - Today at 11:30 a.m., during the celebration of sext, in the Consistory Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, an ordinary public consistory for several causes of canonization was held, in the presence of the Holy Father.

Following are the names of the future Saints and the dates of their canonizations: Maria Faustina Kowalska, religious of the Institute of the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy on April 30, 2000; Cristobal Magellanes and 24 companions, priests and lay people, martyrs, and Jose Maria de Yermo y Parres, priest, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Poor on May 21; Augustine Tchao, priest, and other martyr Blesseds in China (17th-20th centuries), Maria Giuseppa del Cuore di Gesu Sanchez de Guerra, foundress of the Institute of the Servants of Jesus and Katharine Marie Drexel, foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, on October 1.

...;CANONIZATIONS;...;...;VIS;20000310;Word: 120;

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 10, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Michel Mouisse, diocesan administrator of Albi, France, as auxiliary bishop of Grenoble (area 7,467, population 1,017,000, Catholics 802,000, priests 356, permanent deacons 20, religious 942), France. The bishop-elect was born in Mazamet, France, in 1939 and ordained a priest in 1966.

NEA;...;...;MOUISSE ;VIS;20000310;Word: 50;

LENT IS A TIME OF CONVERSION, PRAYER AND FASTING

VATICAN CITY, MAR 9, 2000 (VIS) - Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, in the Basilica of St. Sabina, the Holy Father presided at an evening celebration of the Liturgy of the Word, during a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

In his homily, the Pope said that through today's traditional rite of the imposition of ashes, "the Church reminds man, believer and sinner, of his frailty in the face of evil and, especially, of his total dependence on God's infinite majesty."

"From its very start, earthly existence forms part of the context of death. Our bodies are mortal, marked by the inescapable prospect of death."

John Paul II indicated that believers "know they are not merely bodies condemned to die because of sin, but that they also have an immortal soul."

Jesus' call at the start of His preaching to "convert and believe in the Gospel," the Pope continued, "is our introduction to the period of Lent, a time that must be especially dedicated to conversion and renewal, to prayer, fasting and works of charity."

"Following these weeks of penance, we will experience the joy of Easter. Our eyes, purified by prayer and penance, will be able to see more clearly the face of the living God, towards whom Man makes his personal pilgrimage along the paths of earthly existence."

After the homily and the blessing, the Pope received ashes from Cardinal Tomko, titular bishop of St. Sabina, and then imposed ashes on some members of the faithful.

HML;ASH WEDNESDAY;...;ST SABINA; TOMKO;VIS;20000309;Word: 270;