POPE SPEAKS OF WORLD'S REFUGEES, COMING TRIP TO UKRAINE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 20, 2001 (VIS) - At the end of today's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 14,000 faithful, Pope John Paul spoke of the World Day of the Refugee and also of his impending trip to Ukraine.

"I affectionately greet," he said, "a group of refugees accompanied by members of the Jesuit Refugee Services in Rome. Today, which has been declared World Day of the Refugee by the United Nations, your presence reminds us of the 50 million refugees concentrated in several of the poorest regions of the world. I greatly hope that the leaders of nations will know how to seek prompt and efficacious solutions for the problems which are at the basis of such great suffering, guaranteeing the necessary aid so that persons in exile may have living conditions worthy of human beings."
"This Saturday," the Holy Father continued, "God willing, I will travel to Ukraine, to Kiev and Lviv, realizing a desire I have had in my heart for some time. I thank the Lord for the opportunity He is giving me to walk in the footsteps of the missionaries who, at the end of the first Christian millennium, sent by the Churches of the East and the West, proclaimed the Gospel in that part of Europe. Since then, the history of those peoples is incomplete without the reference to Christianity."

The Pope added that he is "preparing to go to Ukraine with great hope. My aim is to confirm in the faith our brothers and sisters of the Catholic community and also to promote ecumenical commitment, in obedience to Christ's words: "That they may all be one!"

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