POPE PRAISES ROACO'S AID TO ORIENTAL CHURCHES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 19, 2000 (VIS) - The Pope this morning welcomed the members of ROACO, the Italian acronym for the Assembly of Works of Assistance to the Oriental Churches, an organism within the Congregation for Oriental Churches, on the occasion of their second annual plenary session. He praised their work which, in recent years, has "responded in a more careful and attentive way to the demands and urgent needs of the Catholic Oriental Churches."

John Paul II recalled his recent pilgrimages to Mount Sinai and to Mount Nebo and the Holy Land where he met with the hierarchy and the faithful of the Oriental Churches. "What the Lord allowed me to experience in those days," he said, "prompts me to recommend to you and to all the Catholic faithful to always take to heart the Christian communities of the Holy Land and to support them in their needs."

He remarked that the Jubilee has been marked by the presence in Rome of a "significant number of representatives of Oriental Catholic Churches. ... In this way Rome makes visible the universality of the Church in the variety of rites and traditions."

"On this particular occasion," stated the Holy Father, "I repeat my invitation to all of you to make every effort possible to come to the aid of populations divided by fraternal conflicts or those of the Middle East still searching for stable paths of justice and freedom. The Jubilee invites us to concrete signs of fraternal charity which will open 'our eyes to the needs of all who live in poverty and marginalization'."

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TO THE MISSIONARIES OF FR. KOLBE: BE WITNESSES OF HOPE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 19, 2000 (VIS) - At midday today, the Pope received participants in the general chapter of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate-Fr. Kolbe, and expressed his desire that their work these days may "consolidate you in your commitment of consecration to God, that you may be leavening of wisdom and witnesses of hope in today's world."

The Pope recalled with joy that the sisters are present in Italy, Luxembourg, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, California and Poland "where, in order to keep alive the legacy of the martyr Maximilian Kolbe, you are completing work on a 'spiritual center' at Auschwitz that aims to offer a message of hope to all who visit to that place: symbol of the most terrible negations of human dignity perpetrated during the 20th century."

"With Franciscan zeal, spread the truth of the Gospel in the hearts and lives of the brothers and sisters that you meet in your daily ecclesial service. ... Your apostolate must derive from incessant prayer and from a communal life that represents a continuous search for God and His work in complex earthly reality."

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IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, JUN 19, 2000 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

- Cardinal Paul Zoungrana M. Afr., archbishop emeritus of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on June 4, at the age of 82.
- Bishop John Brewer of Lancaster, Great Britain, on June 10, at the age of 70.
- Bishop Paul Huynh Dong Cac, emeritus of Quy Nhon, Vietnam, on June 3, at the age of 77.
- Bishop Jose del Carmen Valle Gallardo, emeritus of Iquique, Chile, on June 10, at the age of 91.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 19, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Said Musa, prime minister of Belize, accompanied by his entourage.
- Cardinals Rosalio Jose Castillo Lara S,D.B., president emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and Edmund Casimir Szoka, current president of this pontifical commission; Archbishop Baltazar Porras Cardoso of Merida, Venezuela, president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, and Bishop Ubaldo Ramon Santana Sequera F.M.I., of Ciudad Guayana, vice-president of the same conference.

On Saturday June 17, he received in separate audiences:

- Archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne of Lima, Peru.
- Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves O.P., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

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SOCIAL SECURITY CONVENTION BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND ITALY

VATICAN CITY, JUN 16, 2000 (VIS) - At midday today, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following declaration:

"Today Friday June 16, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States, and Lamberto Dini, Italian foreign minister, signed a 'Social Security Convention between the Holy See and the Italian Republic' and the associated 'Administrative Agreement.'

"The new international instrument will give Vatican employees, not just the Italians, and their families, greater peace of mind in the face of the demands and unforeseen circumstances of everyday life."

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