OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 20, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Bunbury, Australia, presented by Bishop Peter Quinn, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Bishop Antonio Gaspar, auxiliary of Sao Paulo, Brazil, as bishop of Barretos (area 8,558, population 294,281, Catholics 226,000, priests 22, religious 63), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Pedro Fre C.SS.R., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Ismael Rueda Sierra of the diocese of Girardot, Colombia, rector of the major seminary of that diocese, as auxiliary bishop of Cartagena (area 8,000, population 1,400,000, Catholics 1,249,000, priests 126, permanent deacons 2, religious 324), Colombia. The bishop-elect was born in Suata, Colombia, in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1981.

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CHRISTMAS: GOD BECOMES FLESH TO REDEEM ALL MANKIND

VATICAN CITY, DEC 20, 2000 (VIS) - "We are preparing to celebrate," said the Pope at the start of today's general audience which was held in St. Peter's Square, "the event that lies at the heart of the history of salvation: the incarnation of the Son of God, Who came to live among us in order to redeem all mankind by His death on the cross."

"Christmas this year," he continued, "is special, the Christmas of the 2000 years of Christ: an important 'birthday' that we have celebrated with the Jubilee year, meditating upon the extraordinary event of the eternal Word, Who became man for our salvation."

The Holy Father affirmed that "over these days, Bethlehem becomes the place to which all believers' eyes are turned. The representation of the nativity scene, which popular tradition has caused to spread to every corner of the earth, helps us to better reflect upon the message that continues to shine out from Bethlehem to all of humanity. In a wretched stable we gaze upon a God Who, for love, became a child. He brings happiness to those who welcome Him, and reconciliation and peace to peoples."

"Preparing ourselves to receive him," added the Holy Father, "requires, first and foremost, intense and faithful prayer. Making space for Him in our hearts calls for a serious commitment to convert ourselves to His love."

John Paul II highlighted that peace is "the gift we must implore with prayerful trust, it is the project that we are called to make our own with constant solicitude." He concluded by expressing the hope that Christmas "may rekindle in all the will to become active and courageous builders of a civilization of love."

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PRESENTATION OF CLOSING CEREMONIES FOR THE HOLY YEAR

VATICAN CITY, DEC 19, 2000 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office at 11:30 a.m. on Friday December 22, Bishop Piero Marini, master of liturgical ceremonies of the Supreme Pontiff, will speak on the concluding Holy Year ceremonies. The Holy Doors of the patriarchal basilicas of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran will be closed on January 5, and that of St. Peter's on January 6.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 19, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Fr. Piotr Kryk, vicar general of Wroclaw Gdansk of the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite, as apostolic exarch of faithful of the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite in Germany. The bishop-elect was born in Kobylnica Woloska, Poland, in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1971.

- Msgr. Jose Hernan Sanchez Porras of the clergy of the diocese of San Cristobal, Venezuela, secretary general of the Venezuelan Epsicopal Conference, as military ordinary for Venezuela. The bishop-elect was born in Palmira, Venezuela, in 1944 and ordained a priest in 1967.

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JOHN PAUL II THANKS AUSTRIANS FOR CHRISTMAS TREE

VATICAN CITY, DEC 16, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father this morning welcomed a delegation from the Austrian province of Carinthia and from the Church of Gurk-Klagenfurt in Austria, and thanked them for the Jubilee Year Christmas tree which they donated for St. Peter's Square, fulfilling a promise made three years ago.

He had "a special greeting for Bishop Egon Kapellari and all the pilgrims, among whom is the regional governor of Carinthia with an official delegation amd the mayor of Gurk with a group from City Hall."

John Paul II said that, "when in past days I looked out of my study window to St. Peter's Square, the tree inspired me spiritually. I always loved trees in my own country. When one looks at them, they start, in a certain way, to speak. A poet once considered trees as preachers with a deep message: 'They don't preach doctrines or precepts, but announce the fundamental law of life'.

"In the flowering in the springtime, maturing in the summer, in the fruits of autumn and in dying in the winter, a tree tells the mystery of life."

"As do trees," the Pope went on, "men also need deeply anchored roots. Only those rooted in fertile soil have stability. ... He who believes he can live without foundations, lives an uncertain existence which resembles roots without earth."

He closed with a reference to Adam, in the Garden of Eden, as he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge and to Christ, who died on the tree of the Cross: "From the tree of paradise came death, from the tree of the Cross came life."

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