POPE LUNCHES AT THE PONTIFICAL MEXICAN COLLEGE

VATICAN CITY, MAY 23, 2000 (VIS) - Yesterday, the Pope was invited to lunch at Rome's Pontifical Mexican College to celebrate the canonization of 27 Mexican Blesseds in St. Peter's Square on May 21.

After the luncheon, John Paul II greeted the cardinals, archbishops and bishops present, as well as the rector and students.

The Holy Father thanked the superiors for "their work of orientation and spiritual guidance of the student priests. I also thank the Daughters of the Poor, Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who quietly and together with lay people, make it possible for this priestly community to live as a family and for their communal life to be regulated by a healthy and happy fraternal atmosphere."

"It is my wish," he concluded, "that the college may continue to foster a suitable atmosphere, one that allows you to deepen and broaden your academic and spiritual formation, so necessary for the priestly ministry, which is the principal reason for your stay here."

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