INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS STARTS JUNE 18

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office there was the presentation of the 47th International Eucharistic Congress which will take place in Rome from June 18 to 25 on the theme "Jesus Christ, One Savior of the World, The Bread of New Life."

Cardinal Edouard Gagnon, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, recalled that the objective of Eucharistic congresses is to "deepen our knowledge of this holy mystery" and "to venerate it through prayer and pious exercises, especially the solemn procession, keeping in mind however, that all forms of piety have their culminating moment in the solemn celebration of Mass."

The first Eucharistic congress, said the Canadian prelate, took place in Lille, France, in 1881. This summer will be the third time that Rome hosts such a congress, following those of 1905 and 1922.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, stated that the theme "underlines the strong mission dimension of the Eucharist. For this reason, the congress "is a missionary event which wishes to proclaim with force and visibility, before everyone, the centrality of the Eucharist for the life of the world."

"Concretely," he continued, "it is starting with the Eucharist that Christians know how to renew not only their personal existence but also the life of the family, of society, and of all cultural and civic milieux."

The cardinal vicar of Rome then announced "an initiative of Rome's clergy, which has been followed by other diocesan priests: to facilitate the participation of priests from poor dioceses of the Third and Fourth World, Roman priests are making themselves available in a great way, both financial and logistical."

Further, he said, "in all Roman parishes, in the houses of religious, the week of the congress will be an occasion for constant prayer - day and night - of Eucharistic adoration and thanksgiving to the Lord. This is also a concrete way to inspire a broader and more genuine participation in this event by many Romans."

Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia, vicegerent of the diocese of Rome, spoke about the program of the congress, which starts on Sunday, June 18 at 6 p.m. in St. Peter's with vespers of the Most Holy Trinity. There will be public catechesis on the Eucharist at St. John Lateran from Tuesday to Saturday mornings, with the participation of ecclesiastics and a series of witnesses by lay people involved in evangelization or in service to the poor.

During the entire week, said Archbishop Nosiglia, there will be perpetual Eucharistic adoration in the city, day and night. There will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every day in many churches and chapels, especially in the city's historic center. Parishes and religious institutes will organize night prayer in shifts.

As to participation in the eucharistic congress: More than 90 episcopal conferences will be present with delegations of bishops, priests, religious and laity. First communion children, accompanied by their families, have been invited by the Pope to the "Statio orbis," the concluding ceremony of the congress, on June 25 at 6:30 p.m. in St. Peter's Square.

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POPE LAUDS INSTITUTE'S FOCUS ON YOUTH AND THE POOR

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - The Brothers of the Christian Schools were welcomed today by the Holy Father who observed that they are celebrating not only their 43rd General Chapter but the centenary of the canonization of their founder, St. Jean-Baptiste LaSalle, and the 50th anniversary of his proclamation by Pius XII as special patron of educators of children and young people.

"These different events," stated the Pope, "are an especially favorable occasion for you to give a new thrust to your different educational and evangelizing missions, according to the charism of your founder and notwithstanding the decrease in your numbers."

John Paul II highlighted their response "to the new appeals of children and young people, especially the poorest who, throughout the world, need to receive a human, moral, catechetical and academic formation, so as to become men and women who will assume their part of responsibility in the Christian community and society of tomorrow."

"Your recent chapters," he pointed out, "have allowed you to reflect on participation by other religious congregations and by the laity who wish to be associated with your mission and to live, in their way, the LaSalle charism." He called the presence of the laity "an appreciable sign of the ever more important place they are called to take in the life of the Church."

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JOHN PAUL II ATTENDS CONCERT BY VIENNA PHILHARMONIC

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - Last evening in the Paul VI Hall, Pope John Paul II attended a concert offered by the Republic of Austria on the occasion of the Jubilee. The Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Riccardo Muti, performed Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor.

At the end of the concert, the Pope thanked the conductor, choir and orchestra. "By performing the 'Great Mass'," he said, "we have been able to experience once again how artistic beauty is a privileged way to arrive at the Mystery and to find satisfaction for one's inner need for light and peace. I hope that a return to the patrimony transmitted to us by past generations will promote a new season of artistic creations which, opening the hearts and minds of the men and women of the new millennium to 'Beauty' and 'Truth', will help them rediscover the greatness and dignity of their vocation of being human."

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THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE IN THE MESSAGES OF JOHN PAUL II

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - On Tuesday June 13, at 11:30 a.m. in the Holy See Press Office, Cardinal William Wakefield Baum, major penitentiary, will present the book "The Sacrament of Penance in the Messages of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II to the Apostolic Penitentiary."

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ARCHBISHOP FOLEY ON ETHICS IN ADVERTISING AND COMMUNICATIONS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - Archbishop John P. Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, is in London where today, at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Center, he addressed the Millennium Congress of the International Advertising Association on the topic "Ethics in Advertising and Communications."

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CARDINAL SODANO RECEIVES PRESIDENT OF IRAQI PARLIAMENT

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration this afternoon:

"Today, June 9, President Saadoun Hammadi of the Iraqi parliament, along with a delegation, was received in audience by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state, who was accompanied by Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for relations with States.

"The talks allowed for a broad exchange of opinions on the situation in Iraq, with special reference to the negative effects of the sanctions on the living conditions of the population.

"The Iraq delegation was shown how much has been done by Pope John Paul II and by the Holy See in favor of Iraq, from the start of the Gulf War right to today.

"The cardinal secretary of state assured his interlocutors of the closeness of the Holy See to the suffering populations."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Arthe Guimond, diocesan administrator since 1998 of the archdiocese of Grouard-McLenna (area 224,596; population 114,760, Catholics 44,397, priests 22; religious 22), Canada, as metropolitan archbishop of the same archdiocese. The archbishop-elect was born in 1931 in Rimouski, Canada, and was ordained a priest in 1957.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 9, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This evening he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves and Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, respectively prefect and secretary of the Congregation for Bishops.

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