BE COURAGEOUS IN THE MIDST OF DAILY DIFFICULTIES

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father today welcomed to Castelgandolfo 180 participants in a course of formation for English-speaking bishops in mission lands that was organized by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He greeted the congregation's prefect, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, as well as all priests, religious, catechists and lay people of the dioceses entrusted to these bishops.

In his talk to them in English, the Pope stressed that "missionary activity throughout the earth ... is still an urgent apostolic undertaking in our day, and you are called to be its courageous and tireless supporters in the midst of daily difficulties and trials."

He noted that in his Encyclical Letter "Redemptoris Missio", he wrote that the Church must be committed "to a new evangelization and to the mission 'ad gentes'. No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church, can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples."

"Among your duties," added the Pope, "is that of transmitting the gift of faith and encouraging your communities to be evangelizers. There is room for everyone in the Lord's vineyard. No one is so poor that he has nothing to give. No one is so rich that he has nothing to receive.

"May your soul every day hear the echo of the Redeemer's exhortation: 'Duc in altum'! This is an invitation to cast 'spiritual nets' into the sea of the world. In turn, those who trust in the Divine Master experience the wonder of the miraculous catch of fish."

The Holy Father urged the bishops to "be holy. On different occasions I have noted that holiness is the urgent pastoral need of our times."

"No activity, no matter how important, should distract you from this spiritual priority that sets the tone for the apostolic mandate received with episcopal ordination. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, makes you His associates in serving the Cristian people as fathers, teachers and pastors."

Pope John Paul concluded by inviting the prelates to imitate the memories of saints, martyrs, confessors of the faith of their communities. "Follow in their footsteps! Be pastors who, by their example more than by their words, honor the Gospel and inspire in those around them the desire to know it better and to put it into practice."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences two prelates from the Uganda Episcopal Conference on their "ad limina" vist:

- Bishop Henry Apaloryamam Ssentongo of Moroto.

- Bishop Denis Kiwanuka Lote of Kotido.
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LOOK FOR WAYS FOR DEEPER COMMUNION

VATICAN CITY, SEP 19, 2003 (VIS) - Today at Castelgandolfo the Pope received a group of priests of the Greek Orthodox Church and recalled his visit with His Beatitude Christodoulos, archbishop of Athens and all Greece, and the Greek Orthodox Church during the Jubilee Year.

"We must continue to build on solid foundations the fraternal and evangelical ties that we experienced on that occasion. Your visit to Rome is a valid initiative in that sense in order to get to know and appreciate each other better and to advance relations that facilitate communion."

John Paul II assured them that he asked the Lord "constantly to prepare us to open our hearts to His prayer that 'all may be one', and to make us capable of genuine obedience to His will in order to look together for ways for closer collaboration and an ever-deeper communion."

He concluded by saying: "I hope that your visit to the holy sites of Rome, with gatherings, conversations, occasions of dialogue, may be a positive and useful experience for your priestly life. May the Holy Spirit always accompany your ministry and strengthen the testimony that each one of you gives to the Gospel of our common Lord."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, SEP 18, 2003 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- Kjell Magne Bondevik, prime minister of Norway, accompanied by his wife and an entourage.

- Nabih Berri, president of the Parliament of Lebanon, accompanied by his wife and an entourage.

- Jean Wagner, ambassador of Luxembourg, accompanied by his wife, on his farewell visit.

- Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio in the United States of America and permanent observer to the Organization of American States.

- Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, apostolic nuncio in Senegal, Mali, Capo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and apostolic delegate in Mauritania.

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MEETING OF CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL LEADERS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 18, 2003 (VIS) - A twelve-day meeting of an estimated 1,000 leaders of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement started today at the Mariapoli Center in Castelgandolfo on the theme "Twelve Days of Blessings." Leaders of other ecclesial movements, such as Chiara Lubich of the Focolare, and of other Christian Churches are also expected to attend.
Cardinal James Francis Stafford and Bishop Stanislaw Rylko, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, will preside at the meeting's main celebrations. The participants will reflect on the current situation of the movement and look at some of the challenges facing it in the future.

The twelve-day encounter has three distinct phases: the meeting of leaders, a four-day spiritual retreat led by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap., preacher of the papal household, on the theme "Holiness, a Challenge for the Third Millennium," and a trip of several days to a number of shrines in south central Italy, including that of St. Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo.

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement was born on university campuses in 1967 in the United States. It spread rapidly and is now present in 70 countries on five continents through a "strong rediscovery of the faith and the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians," according to a communique published about the meeting.

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