AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, SEP 7, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

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CELEBRATIONS FOR BICENTENARY OF POPE PIUS VII

VATICAN CITY, SEP 7, 2000 (VIS) - Made public today was a message from the Pope to Dom Isidoro Catanesi and Dom Innocenzo Negrato, respectively president of the Benedictine Congregation of Monte Cassino, Italy, and visitor to the Benedictine Congregation's Italian province of Subiaco, for the commemoration of the bicentenary of Pope Pius VII's election to the See of Peter.

In the message, which is dated August 14, John Paul II recalls the person and activity of "this most illustrious Pope and faithful son of St. Benedict." He was born in 1742, ordained a priest in 1765, a bishop in 1782 and elected Pope in 1800. In 1809 he was arrested and imprisoned in France and later in Savona, Italy. In 1814 he was freed and a year later forced into exile in Genoa following the invasion of Rome and the Papal States. "In these circumstances," writes the Pope, "he displayed constancy in defending the Church and tenacious courage in enduring affronts and suffering."

"To underline the constant bonds between this Pope and the Mother of God, the commemorative historical congress of his election has chosen to open on September 15, liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows which, on September 18, 1814 Pius VII chose to extend to the whole Church in recollection of the suffering inflicted on the Church during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic domination. Moreover, on September 15, 1815, in order to perpetuate the memory of his triumphant return to Rome of May 24, 1814 he decreed that every year the diocese of Rome would celebrate, on May 24, the Feast of Mary, Help of Christians."

John Paul II requests that, following Pius VII's example, "the people of our time might draw precious guidance in order to face the challenges of the modern age with similar missionary ardor. Today, as in his time, we must know how to bear life's difficulties while remaining steadfast in listening to and obeying the Gospel."

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POPE WELCOMES EGYPT'S NEW AMBASSADOR TO THE HOLY SEE

VATICAN CITY, SEP 7, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul today received the Letters of Credence of Farouk Hussein Raafat, Egypt's new ambassador to the Holy See. In his welcome speech, he recalled "the joy of my days spent in your country last February, ... especially Mount Sinai where I was able to commemorate the gift of the Law which God wrote long ago on the tablets of stone and which He continues to write in every age on the human heart."

The Pope observed that "in a world deeply marked by violence, it is bitterly ironic that even now some of the worst conflicts are between believers who worship the one God, who look to Abraham as a holy patriarch and who seek to follow the Law of Sinai. Each act of violence makes it more urgent for Muslims and Christians everywhere to recognize the things we have in common, .... and to agree once and for all that recourse to violence in the name of religion is totally unacceptable.

"Especially when religious identity coincides with cultural and ethnic identity it is a solemn duty of believers to ensure that religious sentiment is not used as an excuse for hatred and conflict. Religion is the enemy of exclusion and discrimination."

The Holy Father added that, during his visit, he was "deeply moved by the memory of the rich Christian culture that emerged in Alexandria, of the many Egyptian saints and martyrs of the Church, and of the Christian monasticism which appeared first in the Egyptian desert and spread from there throughout the world."

Lastly, he spoke of the Middle East peace process, thanking Egypt for its role, and highlighting the Church's "interest in the search for peace in the region. ... In fulfilling her religious mission, the Church is present in the temporal order above all through her efforts to educate consciences to the truths and values which are the foundations of the well-being of individuals and of societies," in particular human dignity.

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