HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE ON NATO BOMBINGS OF YUGOSLAVIA

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 1999 (VIS) - Last evening, Wednesday, March 24, shortly after the start of the bombings by NATO forces against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration:

"Recourse to the use of force is always a defeat for humanity. One cannot help but think of the eventual victims and the feelings of hatred that will inevitably arise. It makes one think of Pius XII's words on August 24, 1939: 'Nothing is lost with peace. All can be lost with war'."

Also last night, relative to the postponement of the visit of a delegation from the Patriarchate of Moscow, which was to have taken place in coming days in the Vatican, Dr. Navarro-Valls thus answered journalists' questions:

"The decision taken by the Patriarchate of Moscow, due to the situation which has been created in the Balkans, and for reasons extraneous to both the Holy See and the Patriarchate, is understandable.

"As was previously announced in Moscow, it is only a question of changing dates, agreed to by both parties."

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HOLY FATHER INAUGURATES ROME-ARMENIA EXHIBITION

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 1999 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon in the Sala Regia, Pope John Paul inaugurated the Rome-Armenia Exhibition in the presence of Armenia's President Kocharian, His Holiness Karekin I, Catholicos of All the Armenians, and His Beatitude Jean Pierre XVIII Kasparian, patriarch of Armenian Catholics.

Karekin I was accompanied by His Beatitude Patriarch Torkom, archbishop of Jerusalem. Prelates, priests and lay people from these Churches also attended the opening.

"You have wished to honor the Church of Rome in the most beautiful manner accorded to Christians, by the witness of charity and the holy kiss of communion," the Holy Father told Catholicos Karekin I. "I deeply appreciate this delicate gesture, which constitutes a new and important chapter in the history of the common quest for full unity between Christ's followers."

John Paul II remarked that "communion does not mean the absorption and loss of one's own identity. Rather, it is a shared pilgrimage to the one Lord, preserving what is specific and gaining the strength and richness that comes from universality."

He then addressed "warm greetings" to Patriarch Kasparian, accompanied by bishops of his Church, and noted that "full communion with the See of Peter, while making this Church an integral part of the Catholic family, does not separate it from the marvelous heritage of spiritual life and culture which brings so much honor to the Armenian people."

Turning to the history of the Armenian people, the Pope said that, "despite opposition and even open persecution, Armenians did not close in upon themselves, but considered it vital ... to engage in an open and intelligent exchange with other peoples. ... They have always shown initiative and courage, ever sustained by the power of the Gospel which shaped their history and provided a solid foundation for their life."

"The relationship between Armenia and Rome preceded the coming of Christianity, but Christianity soon became the very reason for that relationship," affirmed the Pope. He added that communion between the Armenian Church in the Cilicia region and the Church of Rome "reached an intensity perhaps never attained in other cases."

If the cultural exchange "failed to yield more lasting fruit, it was in part due to the intransigence of some who perhaps were not able to appreciate fully the value of so providential an opportunity. On the Roman side, some of this lack of understanding was the result of tragic internal conflicts in the Western Church and the emergence of new canonical and theological concepts which made it more difficult to understand the ancient spiritual heritage of the East. For us today all of this is a motive of profound regret."
Pope John Paul then turned to the exhibition itself, commenting that "the objects on display in the Sala Regia - from the fragment of Noah's Ark from Echmiadzin to the archeological finds from ancient Cilicia ... are signs of the great things which God has done for the Armenian people. They are an invitation to ever deeper self-knowledge and ever greater self-esteem."

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PRIEST'S MISSION IS TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF WITH DIVINE FATHERHOOD

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 1999 (VIS) - Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos and Archbishop Csaba Terniak, respectively prefect and secretary of the Congregation for Clergy, presented the Holy Father John Paul II's Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 1999 this morning at the Holy See Press Office.

Archbishop Terniak said that the reason for the Pope's letter is for the celebration of Holy Thursday, "because this is the day on which the ordained priesthood was born, the priesthood which partakes in that original and intransferable priesthood of Jesus Christ, of which the priest is gift and sign of love for His Church."

He announced that the next international meeting of clergy will be held in the Holy Land from June 22-27, and said that like the three previous such meetings, this one "responds to that deep desire of staying a while with the Lord, in a heart to heart (encounter), in the palpable reality of priestly communion."

For his part, Cardinal Castrillon explained that the Letter is focussed on the theme of divine fatherhood. It begins with the invocation "Abba Father", a term used by Jesus in the Garden of Olives and which "indicates an intimacy for which there are no examples before Christ."

"Priests are invited to be permeated by this fatherhood, but they are also called to give it to the whole world, which is in such urgent need of it! ... Spiritual fatherhood involves bringing the light of the Gospel, the light of the Word of God to others."

The prefect of the Congregation for Clergy ended by stating that "the Eucharist is the inexhaustible mystery of Christ and from his prayer is the summit and source of all good. ... The Holy Sacrifice is the absolute center of the life and day of the priest. Priesthood and the Eucharist are indissolubly united."

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POPE WELCOMES KAREKIN I TO THE VATICAN

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 1999 (VIS) - Pope John Paul II this morning welcomed His Holiness Karekin I, Catholicos of All the Armenians, and in his speech in French, highlighted the nearly two millennia-old history of Christianity in Armenia. "Thanks to their fidelity to their roots and their tenacity in adversity," he said, "the Armenian people have known how to turn their many sufferings into a source of creativity and dynamism."

The Pope then observed that "soon Christians ... will sing and celebrate the mystery of our redemption. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of our life, our mission and the links of fraternal communion among our Churches. I welcome with satisfaction the progress made in our common search for unity in Christ. ... The regrettable divisions of the past must not continue to bear negatively on the life and witness of our Churches."

"The Catholic Church and the Armenian Church have developed a deep relationship, especially since Vatican Council II," Pope John Paul pointed out. "I wish to especially thank Your Holiness," he added, "for what you have accomplished and are still accomplishing to realize unity among Christians."

The Holy Father then referred to the invitation to visit Armenia, extended to him by both Karekin I and the country's president. "I pray the Lord that he will allow me to make this visit."

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FIRST "AD LIMINA" VISIT FOR UKRAINIAN PRELATES OF LATIN RITE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received the bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic communities of the Latin rite on their first "ad limina" visit.

At the beginning of his speech, the Pope recalled the "witness of so many heroes of the faith who suffered persecution, and the courage of uncountable numbers of parents who continually passed on the love for the Gospel to their children."

Having encouraged the bishops to maintain "a deep apostolic missionary zeal," he urged their communities to be "full of life and fervor, that they might be united to their pastors and directed at evangelization. You can thus look towards the future with trust and undertake in an ever better way your mission in the beloved land of Ukraine."

The Pope said that, having overcome difficulties of recent years, the bishops now must concern themselves with providing their communities with sacred buildings. "Many parish churches and chapels have been reopened for worship, and there are now three seminaries."
"In your country, you show the richness of the Catholic Church through the variety of her ritual expressions: the Byzantine tradition, the Latin one, with the numerically limited contribution of Armenia. ... The Church can be proud of this plurality in unity."

"May the specific difficult religious situation in your country," exhorted the Pope, "not discourage you in the constant search for paths of dialogue, reciprocal understanding and, as far as is possible and fitting, concrete means of cooperation. An attentive and courageous missionary zeal will be useful for you so that the barriers raised by the desolating oppression of 70 years of militant atheism will fall."

Lastly, referring to ecumenism, he emphasized the importance of "the preaching and witness of followers of Christ in Ukrainian society. Families, fragile in unity and in the respect for life, need it, the weakest need it, particularly children, who are often abandoned; society needs it; ... young people seek it, who desire new hope and concrete ideals for which they can commit their lives."

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