POPE JOHN PAUL TO PRESIDE ASH WEDNESDAY LITURGY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 23, 2001 (VIS) - On the afternoon of February 28, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, Pope John Paul will process from the church of San Anselmo to the basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill, thus renewing a centuries-old Roman tradition of celebrating Mass at designated station or stational churches during Lent.

At 5 p.m. in San Anselmo, there will be a moment of prayer, followed by a penitential procession to the basilica of Santa Sabina. Joining the Pope in the procession will be cardinals, archbishops, bishops, the Benedictine monks of San Anselmo, the Dominican Fathers of Santa Sabina and the lay faithful.

In Santa Sabina, the Holy Father will preside at the liturgy of the Word and, after his homily, there will be the rite of the blessing and imposition of ashes. Cardinal Josef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will preside at the Eucharistic liturgy. In conclusion the Pope will impart his apostolic blessing.

The practice of station churches had its origins in the first centuries of Christianity when most of the early Popes celebrated the liturgy on special days at special churches. This eventually became a predominantly Lenten devotion. In his liturgical reforms, Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604), established a stational church for each day of Lent, thus making the whole season a pilgrimage on the path to conversion in preparation for Easter.

In early times, the celebrations began with clergy and the congregation gathering at one spot ("collecta") and processing to the station church ("statio"), while reciting litanies and other prayers. The Eucharist was then celebrated at the station church.

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PAPAL AUDIENCE FOR 44 NEW CARDINALS AND FAMILY MEMBERS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 23, 2001 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope received the 44 new cardinals, with their family members and the faithful who had participated in Wednesday's Consistory. He addressed them in the cardinals' various languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Latvian.

"In returning to your dioceses," he said in French, "be reaffirmed in your faith and in your love for Christ and His Church, with a renewed desire to follow the Lord, to conform your lives to His!"

To the English-speaking cardinals and faithful, the Pope expressed the hope that "the communities of faith to which you belong become more and more true schools of prayer, contemplation and mission."

John Paul II then addressed the Latin American and Spanish cardinals, with these words: "You are now asked for a greater commitment to the service of the Church, to the point of giving your lives for the Gospel, as did the Saint we commemorate today, St. Polycarp of Smyrna. This also involves a greater responsibility for your ecclesial communities and, above all, for those, like you, who are closest to them."

Speaking in Polish, the Pope gave thanks to Divine Providence "for the fact that the Latin Church in Ukraine" - whose new cardinal is Marian Jaworski, of Lviv of the Latins - "gives the witness of living faith, which has survived in the years of oppression and trial." He also welcomed Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

"Pray," he said in Ukrainian, "that this sign of unity," the creation of two Ukrainian cardinals, one of the Latin and another of the Eastern rite, "may become a pledge of complete communion among the Christians of the West and the East. In the hope of meeting you during the visit I will make, please God, in the upcoming month of June, I send to all of your compatriots a cordial greeting."

In Lithuanian the Holy Father affirmed that raising Audrys Juozas Backis to the dignity of cardinal "serves to honor the entire Church in Lithuania for its fidelity to Christ, bought at a dear price during the years of communist domination."

At the conclusion of his discourse, John Paul II reminded the new cardinals that their ministry, "diverse for each, is always at the service of the one Christ and of His mystical Body. With fraternal esteem, I encourage you to proceed in your spiritual and apostolic mission, which today has experienced a very important stage. Keep your gaze fixed upon Christ."

Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls, commenting on the media presence this past week, stated that "this eighth consistory of John Paul II's pontificate was also a great event from the point of view of communications. The Holy See Press Office gave accreditation expressly for the consistory to 250 special envoys, to which must be added the almost 400 permanently accredited journalists. There were 180 radio stations which had link-ups to Vatican Radio. In addition, 74 television crews and 40 photo agencies were accredited."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 23, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Raised Msgr. Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, to the dignity of bishop, naming him titular bishop of Vescovio, Italy.

- Appointed Bishop Jiri Padour, O.F.M., auxiliary of Prague, as coadjutor of Ceske Budejovice (area 12,500, population 795,000, Catholics 365,000, priests 155, permanent deacons 15, religious 246), Czech Republic.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, FEB 23, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in audience Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, accompanied by Bishop Vincenzo Apicella, auxiliary of Rome for the western pastoral sector, and Fr. Lorenzo Rossi, C.R.I.C., pastor of the parish of the Nativity of Mary, with a parish vicar.

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