AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini.
- Nicola Mancino, president of the senate of the Italian Republic, with his wife and entourage.
- J. Fernand Tanguay, ambassador oof Canada, on a farewell visit.

This evening he is scheduled to receive Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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TELEGRAM FOR ACCIDENT IN SPAIN WHICH KILLED 27 STUDENTS

VATICAN CITY, JULY 7, 2000 (VIS) - Following is the text of the telegram sent by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, in Pope John Paul's name, for the accident yesterday afternoon in Spain which took the lives of 27 students of two religious institutes:

"The Holy Father, greatly saddened by the news of the traffic accident which occurred in the vicinity of Soria and which caused the deaths of 27 persons as well as numerous wounded, for the most part young students from the colleges of San Esteve in Ripollet and Modolell in Villadecamps, as well as teachers and those who accompanied them who were going to a summer camp organized by the Brothers of Christian Instruction of St. Gabriel, offers prayers for the repose of the souls of the deceased. Likewise, the Holy Father expresses his deep sympathy to the relatives of the victims and to the organizers of this formative activity, together with his heartfelt expression of closeness and comfort and of great concern and he hopes that the wounded will heal soon. In these moments of pain he imparts his heartfelt and comforting apostolic blessing as a sign of hope in the Risen Christ."

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DEFEND, PROMOTE AND LOVE THE LIFE OF EVERY HUMAN BEING

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 2000 (VIS) - At noon today in St. Peter's Basilica, John Paul II welcomed 6,000 Catholic doctors and members of their families, who are in Rome for the Jubilee of Doctors and who also have been participating in the 20th World Congress of Catholic Doctors, which began July 3 in Rome.

The participants in the medical congress, including scientists from around the world, are members of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors and the European Federation of Catholic Medical Associations.

The Holy Father underscored that "the theme of the congress, 'Medicine and Human Rights', is very important not only for the cultural effort which links the progress of medicine with the ethical and juridical needs of the human person, but also because it is a current topic because of the effective or potential violations of the basic right to life on which all other rights of the person rest."

"Your mission as doctors," he pointed out, "places you in daily contact with the mysterious and stupendous reality of human life, encouraging you to bear the sufferings and hopes of so many of our brothers and sisters." He added that they must offer the ill, "not only medical care and technical services, ... but also that special spiritual medicine which consists of the warmth of authentic human contact. ... The patient must be helped to rediscover not only physical well-being but also psychological and moral well-being."

"You know well, dear Catholic doctors, that your indispensable mission is to defend, promote and love the life of every human being, from its beginning to its natural end." The Pope remarked that society today "is often dominated by an abortion culture" which attacks human life at its inception and which leads to a mentality condoning euthanasia, an attack on life at its very end.

"You know," the Holy Father went on, "that a Catholic is never allowed to be an accomplice in a presumed right to abortion or to euthanasia. Legislation favoring such crimes, being intrinsically immoral, can never be a moral imperative for the doctor, who can make use of the right of conscientious objector."
Pope John Paul then turned to the "many worrisome forms of attacks on health and life, which should be courageously faced by every person truly respectful of life": the destruction, suffering and death caused by wars and conflicts, as well as epidemics and illnesses. "There is a vast field of action open to you," he told the doctors. There is also much to be done, he added, to assist those countries where poor people have insufficient health care and medicine, or are dying of diseases, "in the face of a general indifference." "Make your hearts sensitive to these silent appeals!"

The Pope then urged the researchers in biomedical sciences, present at today's audience, "to generously offer their contribution to assure mankind of the conditions for better health, always respecting the dignity and sacredness of human life."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 7, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Gebhard Furst, director of the academy of the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, as bishop of the same diocese (area 19,514, population 5,000,000, Catholics 2,043,672, priests 1,211, religious 3,444, permanent deacons 207), Federal Republic of Germany. The bishop-elect was born in 1948 in Bietigheim, Germany and was ordained a priest in 1977.

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TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND POLES CELEBRATE JUBILEE WITH HOLY FATHER

VATICAN CITY, JUL 6, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul this morning celebrated Mass at 8 in St. Peter's Square for 25,000 fellow Poles, who came to Rome on a national pilgrimage for a three-day celebration of the Jubilee Year 2000.

In his homily the Holy Father underlined two particular "dimensions of the pastoral activity of the clergy and the laity in our country": the duty to preach the Gospel as mandated by Jesus Christ to His followers, and the duty both "to show mercy to those who need it ... and to meet the needs of those who have undergone injustices."

The Pope remarked that, as we enter the new millennium, we must preach the Gospel with greater fervor. "May parents be witnesses to children and young people! May young people bring the Good News to their peers, who often lose the sense of life, losing their way among the proposals of the world. May pastors not forget that the missionary spirit, the solicitude for every person who seeks Christ and for all who have strayed from Him, belongs to the essence of their pastoral mission."

Addressing the second dimension of pastoral activity, he observed that "the Jubilee, as a period in which we experience in a special way the mercy of God, leads us to those who most need our mercy. The 'today' of the Church ... must be lived as a 'today' of the poor, the oppressed, those who are alone or ill. ... May this year of grace be proclaimed to them through works of active love." For all who have lost their work, their home, their health or the possibility of education, "the leaders of all levels of society in our country must make every effort so that the introduction of just economic reforms be fulfilled profitably for everyone, especially the poorest. I ask this in a special way of all those who base their activity on Christian values.

"The duty of meeting the needs of those who have undergone injustices weighs above all not only on politicians, on entrepreneurs or on charitable organizations, but on all those who in any way can remedy the needs of others."

The Holy Father concluded with an appeal to "perform works of mercy for our brothers and sisters," returning "constantly to the idea of the preferential option for the poor and needy."

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