35 NEW SWISS GUARDS TO BE SWORN IN ON MAY 6

VATICAN CITY, MAY 5, 2000 (VIS) - This evening at 7, Pope John Paul will receive the new recruits of the Pontifical Swiss Guards with their parents and the married Swiss Guards with their families in the first of several events to commemorate the heroic deaths of 147 Swiss Guards who died defending Pope Clement VII in the Sack of Rome on May 6, 1527.

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 Cardinal Henri Schwery, bishop emeritus of Sion, Switzerland, will celebrate Mass for the Swiss Guards in the Hall of Blessings. At 8:45 a.m. there will be a commemorative act to honor the fallen guards and the bestowal of military decorations in the guard barracks in front of the Monument to the Fallen.
At 5 p.m. in the San Damaso Courtyard, 35 new Swiss Guards will be sworn in, following which President Adolf Ogi of Switzerland will give an address. Twenty of the new guards will take their oath in German, 12 in French, 2 in Italian and one in Ladin.

The Pontifical Swiss Guards, states a note from the commander's office, were founded by Pope Julius II in 1506. They are a company of 101 volunteers recruited from all of Switzerland's cantons whose main duty is the defense of the person and residence of the Supreme Pontiff. Their duties include surveillance of the entrances to Vatican City and serving as security and honor guards during religious and diplomatic papal functions. Several Swiss Guards always travel with the Holy Father when he makes apostolic trips abroad.

There are four officers (colonel, lieutenant colonel, major and captain, 1 chaplain, 26 non-commissioned officers and 70 halberdiers. The tour of duty lasts two years, though guards may sign up for additional two-year terms.

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POPE TO RECALL ARCHBISHOP ROMERO IN COLOSSEUM COMMEMORATION

VATICAN CITY, MAY 5, 2000 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls today declared that the name of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of San Salvador, murdered in 1980 as he celebrated Mass, will figure in the prayers pronounced during the ceremony commemorating the witnesses to the faith, to be held next Sunday in the Colosseum.

"Archbishop Romero's name," said Navarro-Valls, "is included in one of the prayers that will be read by John Paul II." He also affirmed that the list of "witnesses" may be given to the Pope in August. This is because the Vatican has requested bishops and non-Catholic Churches from all over the world to supply names for this list, but not all the replies have yet been received.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 5, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Rev. Stuart Burgess, president of the Methodist Church of Great Britain accompanied by Bishop John Patrick Crowley of Middlesbrough and Rev. David Hope, Anglican archbishop of York.
- Jean Gueguinou, French ambassador, on a farewell visit.
- Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
- Sheikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams ed-Din, president of the Superior Shi'ite Council of Lebanon, accompanied by an entourage.
- Bishop Joseph Anthony Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, U.S.A., president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States of America, accompanied by Bishop Wilton Daniel Gregory of Belleville, U.S.A., and Msgr. Dennis M. Schnurr, respectively vice-president and secretary general of the same conference.

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CONFERENCE TO PRESENT JUBILEE OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 5, 2000 (VIS) - On Tuesday, May 9 at 12 noon in the Holy See Press office, Cardinal Paul Poupard will preside at a conference for the presentation of the Jubilee of University Teachers, scheduled for September 3-10, and related events (the world encounter for university deans, the encounter for administrative leaders, the world forum of university students and the world encounter of chaplains).

Also scheduled to participate are: Archbishops Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Giuseppe Pittau, congregation secretary, and Crescenzio Sepe, secretary general of the Jubilee committee; Ortensio Zecchino, minister for universities and scientific and technological research; Antonio Cicchetti, president of the Jubilee's organizing committee for university teachers; and Msgrs. Sergio Lanza, coordinator of the theological-pastoral committee and Lorenzo Leuzzi, secretary of the organizing committee.

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PAPAL TELEGRAM FOR DEATH OF CARDINAL O'CONNOR OF NEW YORK

VATICAN CITY, MAY 4, 2000 (VIS) - Following is the text of the telegram sent by Pope John Paul to Bishop Robert A. Brucato, auxiliary and apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of New York, for the death last evening at the age of 80 of Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor, archbishop of New York:

"With a deep sense of personal loss I have received the news of the death of Cardinal John J. O'Connor and I offer my prayerful condolences to you, the auxiliary bishops and the priests, religious and laity of the archdiocese of New York. With gratitude to God for the cardinal's many years of dedicated and courageous witness to the Gospel as chaplain in the armed forces, as bishop of Scranton and as archbishop of New York, I join you in commending this faithful servant of the Church to our heavenly Father's eternal love. As a deeply spiritual man, a warm and zealous pastor, an effective teacher of the faith and a vigorous defender of human life, Cardinal O'Connor modelled his own life and ministry on the figure of the good shepherd who to the end 'gives his life for the flock'. Through the years he has been of great support to me in the service of the universal Church, he worked tirelessly to build better ecumenical and inter-religious relations, and for Catholics and other Christians and men and women of good will throughout the world he was a source of inspiration in serving God in our less fortunate brothers and sisters. To the cardinal's family and to all who mourn him in the hope of the resurrection I cordially impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of consolation and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ."

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