DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO UNREGULATED SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 25, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today, John Paul II received representatives of the Italian League for the Fight against Tumors, for the occasion of the 80th anniversary of its foundation.

The Pope affirmed that the concern of this association is that the disease "be accepted without drama and faced with realism, relying with faith on the resources of the human organism and on medical research."

After highlighting the need for experiments that concern the person to be "carried out in full respect of human dignity," he said: "Scientific research will thus become a priceless gift for so many families and for all humanity."

The Holy Father added that suffering and pain can be "an occasion for spiritual growth, opening broader horizons than those to which the limitations and precariousness of our physical being confine us."

Medical professionals "must always bear in mind the centrality of the human being, regardless of race or religion. ... Never must we lose from sight the final aim of the true good of man; never must we surrender to the temptation to unregulated medical and scientific progress, that could become a dangerous form of 'technological control' of life."

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ANGELUS: FOLLOW CHRIST ON THE PATH OF SILENCE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 24, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today, John Paul II appeared at the window of his study overlooking St. Peter's Square in order to pray the angelus with pilgrims and faithful gathered below.

Prior to the Marian prayer, the Holy Father recalled that this Sunday's liturgy with its Gospel account of the Transfiguration invites us to follow Christ to Mount Tabor, "the mountain of silence and contemplation. ... This, together with my collaborators in the Roman Curia, is what I have had the grace to do during this week of spiritual exercises; an experience I recommend to all, in ways adapted to differing vocations and life conditions."

Following the angelus, the Pope greeted, "with particular affection," young people from neocatechumenal communities in parishes and dioceses throughout Italy. "You," he said, "are on the road to World Youth Day, which will take place in Toronto, Canada, this July. You are young people marching with Christ. I thank you because, by your presence, you give me the opportunity to renew the invitation to your peers to prepare carefully for this important date. In all circumstances, know how to present with humility and respect the hope that is within you."

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POPE ADDRESSES ROME'S FILIPINO COMMUNITY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 24, 2002 (VIS) - Today, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar general for the diocese of Rome, presided at Mass for Rome's Filipino community in the Basilica of "S. Pudenziana al Viminale."

As Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls announced yesterday, John Paul II's pastoral visit to this basilica has been postponed, due to arthritic pain in his right knee.

The homily, which the Holy Father had prepared, was read by Cardinal Ruini. "With great joy," he began, "I greet those who work in Rome's Philippine Catholic chaplaincy, better known as 'Sentro Pilipino.' It coordinates the 38 pastoral centers spread around the city, meeting the spiritual, moral and social needs of tens of thousands of Filipino immigrants."

Commenting on the first reading of today's Mass which was taken from the Book of Genesis in which "God promised Abraham two things which seemed impossible: a son and a land," the Pope affirms that, in blessing the patriarch with these two things, "God offers him a life that is bigger than death. ... The promise to Abraham is fulfilled only when death itself is destroyed; and death is destroyed when Christ is raised to new life."

"'Leave your country, your family and your father's house!' God says to Abraham. Many of you have done just that: you have left home and family, so that in your own way you may become a blessing for those you love back in the Philippines, contributing to their economic support, providing greater opportunities culturally and socially for your children and families. The separation is difficult and the cost is high, but it is a price you are willing to pay in a difficult and often unjust world."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, FEB 25, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Six prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Argentina, on their "ad limina" visit:
- Archbishop Estanislao Esteban Karlic of Parana, accompanied by his auxiliary Juan Alberto Puiggari.
- Archbishop Alfonso Delgado Evers of San Juan de Cuyo.
- Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer of La Plata.
- Bishop Luis Teodoro Stockler of Goya.

He also received the following Argentinian prelates:

- Archbishop Moises Blanchoud, emeritus of Salta.
- Archbishop Jorge Manuel Lopez, emeritus of Rosario.
- Archbishop Emilio Ognenovich, emeritus of Mercedes-Lujan.
- Bishop Joan Rodolfo Laise, emeritus of San Luis.
- Bishop Bernardo Witte, emeritus of Concepcion.
- Bishop Andres Sapelak, emeritus of Santa Maria del Patrocinio en Buenos Aires of the Ukrainians.

On Saturday, February 23, it was made public that he received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Claudio Hummes O.F.M., archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and preacher during this year's spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia.
- Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz, apostolic nuncio to the European Community.
- Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, special envoy and permanent observer to the Council of Europe.
- Cardinal Camillo Ruini, his vicar general for the diocese of Rome and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, accompanied by Bishop Luigi Moretti, auxiliary of Rome for the central pastoral sector; Fr. Remo Bati S.D.B., chaplain to Filipino immigrants in the diocese of Rome, and Msgr Gino Amicarelli, rector of the church of "S. Pudenziana al Viminale."
- Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

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INAUGURATION OF THE ARGENTINIAN PRIESTLY COLLEGE IN ROME

VATICAN CITY, FEB 25, 2002 (VIS) - Made public today was a letter from the Pope to Archbishop Estanislao Karlic of Parana, Argentina, president of the Episcopal Conference of Argentina, and to the archbishops and bishops of that country, for the occasion of the inauguration of the Argentinian Priestly College.
"The priests sent by their bishop to this center", the Holy Father writes in the letter dated February 24, "will have the privileged opportunity to complete their studies and deepen - using particularly appropriate scientific methods - their reflections on the one true faith, which is expressed in different languages and cultural forms."

John Paul II affirmed that "apart from this moving experience, your stay in the Church of Rome, See of Peter and his successors, must serve to increase your faithfulness to the Church. Your physical proximity will contribute strongly to this end, as will the chance you will have to see and listen personally to those who have received the mission to confirm their brothers in the faith and to nourish the people of God as an 'amoris officium'."

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