HOLY FATHER WELCOMES 160 NEWLY ORDAINED BISHOPS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 5, 2001 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall, Pope John Paul welcomed 160 bishops ordained between January 1, 2000 and June of this year who are taking part in a meeting promoted by the Congregation for Bishops. The Pope thanked the Legionaries of Christ who are hosting the bishops during "these days of prayer, listening, reflection, ... fraternal communion and a serene and profound study of several themes and practical problems."

"My dear brothers," said the Holy Father, "you are the bishops of the beginning of the new millennium! Certainly we are living in a difficult and complex world. The series of questions, reports and debates that you have faced in these days attests to this. A bishop's ministry is not one marked by triumphalism, but rather by the Cross of Christ. With the sacrament of Orders, in fact, you have been more intimately configured to Christ."

He told them that, "in fulfilling your ministry what should animate you is a great spirit of service. Today more than ever the role of the bishop must be understood in terms of service. ... 'The Bishop, Servant of the Gospel for the Hope of the World': this will be the theme of the 10th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod this coming autumn on the life and ministry of bishops."

John Paul II went on to say that "the bishop must exercise his office and his authority as a service to unity and communion. As bishops, we are called to lead the People of God on the paths of holiness; for this reason we must look to Christ as our model. The success of our pastoral ministry cannot be measured in terms of bureaucratic organization or statistical data: holiness has other criteria for being measured." He stressed that "personal holiness is the condition for the fruitfulness of our ministry as bishops of the Church."

The Pope observed that, "as newly ordained bishops you will not fail to return often to that moving moment, recalling the triple 'munus' entrusted to you: being teachers of the faith, ... administrators of the mysteries of God for the sanctification of souls, and pastors and guides for the People of God."

In conclusion, the Holy Father noted that "apostolic service, as we well know, bears within it joys and hopes, but also difficulties, anxieties amd enormous pastoral challenges. But you are not alone in your ministry because you are united, as Successors of the Apostles, to the Pope, Successor of the Apostle Peter, and with all members of the College of Bishops."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 5, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Djuro Hranic, professor of dogmatic theology at the Theological Institute of Djakovo, as auxiliary bishop of Djakovo-Srijem (area 11,286, population 1,394,720, Catholics 468,134, priests 251, religious 435), Croatia. The bishop-elect was born in Vinkovci, Croatia, in 1961, and ordained to the priesthood in 1986.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUL 5, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences five prelates from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, on the occasion of their "ad limina" visit: - Bishop Emilio Aranguren Echeverria of Cienfuegos.
- Bishop Mario Eusebio Mestril Vega of Ciego de Avila.
- Bishop Carlos Jesus Patricio Baladron Valdes of Guantanamo-Baracoa.
- Bishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez of Santisimo Salvador de Bayamo y Manzanillo.
- Bishop Marcelo Arturo Gonzalez Amador of Santa Clara.

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JOHN PAUL II RECALLS APOSTOLIC TRIP TO UKRAINE

VATICAN CITY, JUL 4, 2001 (VIS) - During today's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II spoke of his apostolic trip to Ukraine, which took place from June 23 to 27.

The Pope emphasized that "it was an unforgettable experience for me to preside over solemn Eucharistic celebrations in Kiev and Lviv in the Latin and Byzantine-Ukrainian rites. It was like living the liturgy 'with both lungs'. ... 'Ut unum sint': The words of Christ's heartfelt prayer resounded in an eloquent way in that 'land of borders', whose history carries written in blood the call to be 'bridges' between divided brethren."

After recalling that Ukraine suffered "so grievously the coercion of religious freedom," the Pope referred to the numerous Christian, Jewish, and Muslim victims of Nazi and Communist regimes. "All believers in God, rejecting every form of violence, are called to nourish the indispensable religious roots of every authentic humanism."

The Holy Father noted that his pilgrimage "wished to pay homage to the sanctity of that land steeped in the blood of martyrs." He added that, in this regard, "I had the joy of beatifying thirty sons and daughters of Ukraine, both Latin and Greek-Catholic."

After voicing the desire that "Ukraine draw renewed apostolic enthusiasm from the patrimony of holiness left by these exemplary disciples of Christ and by so many others whom these in some way represent," he expressed the hope that "a rich flowering of vocations will ensure the necessary yield for an effective pastoral service to the People of God."

John Paul II then spoke of the "awaited encounter with youth," saying that he had "symbolically entrusted to 'young' Ukraine the divine law of the Decalogue, as an indispensable compass for its journey, placing it on guard against the idols of a false material well-being and the temptation to avoid responsibilities."

At the end of the catechesis the Pope referred to those in Ukraine who are dedicated to the service of the Gospel and "to the many situations of suffering and difficulty, including that of the imprisoned, to whom I send my affectionate greeting, assuring a special remembrance for them in prayer."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUL 4, 2001 (VIS) - This evening the Holy Father is scheduled to receive in audience Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

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