OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Msgr. Jorge Pedro Carrion Pavlich, of the clergy of Tarma, Peru, apostolic administrator of Puno (area 19,475, population 801,000, Catholics 696,000, priests 37, religious 50), Peru, as bishop of the latter diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Tarma in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1976.
- Msgr. Tommaso Valentinetti, of the clergy of Lanciano-Ortona, Italy, pastor of the parish of St. Gabriel the Archangel in Ortona and vicar general of the same archdiocese, as bishop of Termoli-Lariano (area 1,424, population 105,350, Catholics 104,300, priests 73, permanent deacons 5, religious 161), Italy. The bishop-elect was born at Ortona in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1977.

- Fr. Stanislav Hocevar S.D.B., inspector of the Salesians in Slovenia, as coadjutor archbishop of Beograd (area 50,000, population 5,505,000, Catholics 8,400, priests 19, religious 53), Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The archbishop-elect was born in Jelendol, Slovenia, in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1974.

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PRIVATE VISIT TO GARDEN AND BASILICA OF GETHSEMANE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 2000 (VIS) - This afternoon, before the ecumenical encounter at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, the Holy Father is scheduled to call on the consuls general of several countries at the apostolic delegation in Jerusalem and then proceed for a private visit to the Basilica of the Garden of Gethsemane.

Gethsemane, from the Hebrew "Gat-shemanin," for oil press, was the name of a farm at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The two holy sites of Gethsemane are the Grotto of the Oil Press and the nearby Rock of the Agony.

No church was ever built on the Grotto of the Oil Press because the grotto itself was considered a place of prayer as witnessed by the numerous graffiti. Preserved since 1392 by the Custody of the Holy Land, the grotto is 19 meters long, 9 wide and 3.5 high. In 1956 the Franciscan Friars Minor found mosaics from the fourth to sixth centuries, fragments of an altar and even older traces of an olive press and a well.

According to an account written by St. Jerome in 386, a church was built on the Rock of the Agony. This was burned by the Persians in 614, an imposing church was built during the Crusades and this too was destroyed in 1187. The current basilica was built by the Franciscans between 1919 and 1924 on the ruins of the previous church.

The Basilica of the Garden of Gethsemane has 12 small domes. In front of the main altar is the rock of the agony of Jesus, which is protected by a wrought iron fence resembling a crown of thorns. This church is also known as the Basilica of the Nations because its construction was made possible by the donations of faithful from many countries.

The adjacent Garden of Olives was acquired by the Franciscans in 1666. There are six centuries-old olive trees in the garden and one which dates back 2,500 years, as was evidenced by the carbon dating process performed on it.

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POPE PREACHES TO YOUNG PEOPLE ON MOUNT OF THE BEATITUDES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 24, 2000 (VIS) - This morning Pope John Paul travelled by helicopter to Korazim, 135 kilometers north of Jerusalem, and by popemobile to the nearby Mount of the Beatitudes where he celebrated a Mass for an estimated 100,000 people, including 45,000 young people from Middle Eastern countries and from abroad.

On his way from the heliport to the site of the Mass, the Pope stopped to bless the Domus Galilaeae, a center for formation, study and retreats for seminarians and priests from around the world built by the Neocatechumenal Way on land offered to them by the Custody of the Holy Land.

The Mount of the Beatitudes is actually a hill rising 150 meters above and overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Five Franciscan sisters, Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, live at the Shrine of the Mount of the Beatitudes.

During Mass, in his homily, the Holy Father extended greetings to the faithful of the Greek-Melkite, Latin, Maronite, Syrian, Armenian and Chaldean communities as well as to members of other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities, "our Muslim friends, members of the Jewish faith and the Druse community."

"We sit on this hill like the first disciples, and we listen to Jesus," the Pope told the young people. "In the stillness, we hear his gentle and urgent voice, as gentle as this land itself and as urgent as a call to choose between life and death.

"How many generations before us have been deeply moved by the Sermon on the Mount! How many young people down the centuries have gathered around Jesus to learn the words of eternal life, as you are gathered here today! How many young hearts have been inspired by the power of His personality and the compelling truth of His message! It is wonderful that you are here! ... This great gathering is like a rehearsal for the World Youth Day to be held in August in Rome!"

Then, referring to Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and to today's site of the Mount of the Beatitudes, John Paul II observed that "these two mountains ... offer us the roadmap of our Christian life and a summary of our responsibilities to God and neighbor. The Law and the Beatitudes together mark the path of the following of Christ and the royal road to spiritual maturity and freedom."

The Pope said that the Ten Commandments "may seem negative ... but in fact they are supremely positive." And the message of the Beatitudes "may seem strange" as "Jesus exalts those whom the world generally regards as weak" but these words present a challenge which demands a deep and abiding 'metanoia' of the spirit, a great change of heart."

"Not far from this very place," affirmed the Holy Father, "Jesus called His first disciples, as He calls you now. His call has always demanded a choice between the two voices competing for your hearts even now on this hill, the choice between good and evil, between life and death. ... To put your faith in Jesus means choosing to believe what He says, no matter how strange it may seem, and choosing to reject the claims of evil, no matter how sensible or attractive they may seem."

He underlined that "like the first disciples at the Sea of Galilee, you must leave your boats and nets behind, and that is never easy ' especially when you face an uncertain future and are tempted to lose faith in your Christian heritage. To be good Christians may seem beyond your strength in today's world. But Jesus does not stand by and leave you alone to face the challenge."

"Now, at the dawn of the Third Millennium," Pope John Paul concluded, "it is your turn to go out into the world to preach the message of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. ... Now it is your turn to be courageous apostles of the Kingdom!"

At the end of Mass the Holy Father greeted the young people present in Italian, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Hebrew and Arabic. He watched as several young people released white doves, and he then blessed several saplings which will be planted on the Mount of the Beatitudes.

He then added: "During these days, my thoughts turn with hope to the initiatives being taken by the Organization of African Unity to restore peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea. These efforts have now reached a very delicate stage. It is a matter of finding a path that will lead to the conditions necessary for the well-being and progress of the peoples of the entire region, already greatly affected by famine. Let us pray that this part of the world will work for a just solution."

Following Mass Pope John Paul went to the shrine of the Mount of the Beatitudes for lunch with the papal party.

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RELIGION MUST NOT BE AN EXCUSE FOR VIOLENCE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 23, 2000 (VIS) - This afternoon, the Holy Father travelled from the apostolic delegation to the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center Pontifical Institute where, at 5:45 p.m. an interreligious meeting took place with Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders and children from the three religions.

The French Augustinian Fathers of the Assumption began the construction of the 'Notre Dame de France' center in 1884, with the aim of assisting French pilgrims in the Holy Land. The building was completed in 1904. In 1948, during the first Arab-Israeli conflict, it was seriously damaged. On December 13, 1978 John Paul II made the center a Pontifical Institute, giving it its present name. Today, it is considered a holy and ecumenical place and constitutes a territorial prelature whose prelate is the apostolic delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine. The center has 144 rooms, 2 meeting halls and a 500-seat auditorium. A community of Carmelite Fathers attends to spiritual animation and the welcome of pilgrims.

In his speech, the Holy Father underlined that "for all of us Jerusalem, as the name indicates, is the 'City of Peace.' ... We must find in our respective religious traditions the wisdom and the superior motivation to ensure the triumph of mutual understanding and cordial respect."

"Love of our brothers and sisters involves an attitude of respect and compassion, gestures of solidarity, cooperation in service to the common good. Thus, concern for justice and peace does not lie outside the field of religion but is actually one of its essential elements."

John Paul II emphasized that "when we love our neighbor we are showing love for God, and when we hurt our neighbor we offend God. This means that religion is the enemy of exclusion and discrimination, of hatred and rivalry, of violence and conflict. Religion is not, and must not become, an excuse for violence, particularly when religious identity coincides with cultural and ethnic identity. Religion and peace go together! Religious belief and practice cannot be separated from the defence of the image of God in every human being."

"We must do all we can to turn awareness of past offenses and sins into a firm resolve to build a new future in which there will be nothing but respectful and fruitful cooperation between us."

The Pope affirmed that "The Catholic Church wishes to pursue a sincere and fruitful interreligious dialogue with the members of the Jewish faith and the followers of Islam. Such a dialogue is not an attempt to impose our views upon others. What it demands of all of us is that, holding to what we believe, we listen respectfully to one another, seek to discern all that is good and holy in each other's teachings and cooperate in supporting everything that favors mutual understanding and peace.
"The Jewish, Christian and Muslim children and young people present here are a sign of hope and an incentive for us."

The Holy Father concluded by stating that "if the various religious communities in the Holy City and in the Holy Land succeed in living and working together in friendship and harmony, this will be of enormous benefit not only to themselves but to the whole cause of peace in this region. Jerusalem will truly be a City of Peace for all peoples."

Following the meeting, the Pope returned to the apostolic delegation where he dined and spent the night.

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REMEMBRANCE: "TO ENSURE THAT NEVER AGAIN WILL EVIL PREVAIL"

VATICAN CITY, MAR 23, 2000 (VIS) - At 12:30 p.m. today, Pope John Paul II arrived at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, a 45-acre complex situated on Har Hazikaron, the Mount of Remembrance, where he was welcomed at the Hall of Remembrance by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the director of the memorial and the two chief rabbis of Israel.

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, was created in 1953 in order to commemorate the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, victims of the Nazis. This State institution is composed of two museums, exhibition halls, outdoor monuments, and documentation and information centers. The archive collection comprises 55 million pages of documents, nearly 100,000 still photographs and thousands of film and video testimonies. The library has more than 80,000 volumes and thousands of periodicals. The Hall of Names features "Pages of Testimony" submitted by family members of victims: to date over three million holocaust victims' names have been registered.

The Hall of Remembrance, where the Pope was welcomed this morning, is the hall where ceremonies are held for official visitors. This is a tent-like structure on whose floor are the names of the six death camps and some of the concentration camps. There is also a memorial flame in front of which there is a crypt containing the ashes of some of the victims.

In addition to this hall, other memorial sites include the Children's Memorial, a tribute to the approximately one and a half million children who died in the Holocaust; The Valley of the Communities, a monument dug in bedrock which commemorates the over 5,000 Jewish communities which were destroyed, and the Avenue and Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations, which honors the non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, established by the Israeli parliament in 1953, takes place on 27th Nissan, which usually occurs at the end of April or beginning of May.
"In this place of memories," the Holy Father told those present, "the mind and heart and soul feel an extreme need for silence. Silence in which to remember. Silence in which to try to make some sense of the memories which come flooding back. Silence because there are no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Shoah. My own personal memories are of all that happened when the Nazis occupied Poland during the War. I remember my Jewish friends and neighbors, some of whom perished, while others survived.

"I have come to Yad Vashem to pay homage to the millions of Jewish people who, stripped of everything, especially of their human dignity, were murdered in the Holocaust."

"We wish to remember," he underscored. "But we wish to remember for a purpose, namely to ensure that never again will evil prevail, as it did for the millions of innocent victims of Nazism. How could man have such utter contempt for man? Because he had reached the point of contempt for God. Only a Godless ideology could plan and carry out the extermination of a whole people."

The Pope added that "the honour given to the 'just gentiles' by the State of Israel at Yad Vashem for having acted heroically to save Jews, sometimes to the point of giving their own lives, is a recognition that not even in the darkest hour is every light extinguished."

"Jews and Christians share an immense spiritual patrimony, flowing from God's self-revelation," he continued. "Our religious teachings and our spiritual experience demand that we overcome evil with good. We remember, but not with any desire for vengeance or as an incentive to hatred. For us, to remember is to pray for peace and justice."

"As Bishop of Rome and Successor of the Apostle Peter, I assure the Jewish people that the Catholic Church, motivated by the Gospel law of truth and love and by no political considerations, is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place. The Church rejects racism in any form as a denial of the image of the Creator inherent in every human being."

"I fervently pray," Pope John Paul II concluded, "that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the twentieth century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews. Let us build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Jewish feeling among Christians or anti-Christian feeling among Jews, but rather the mutual respect required of those who adore the one Creator and Lord, and look to Abraham as our common father in faith."

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