THE CHURCH, COMMUNION OF LOVE LINKING CHRIST TO MANKIND

VATICAN CITY, MAR 29, 2006 (VIS) - In the general audience, held this morning in St. Peter's Square in the presence of more than 40,000 people, Benedict XVI continued his catechesis on the relationship between Christ and the Church in the light of the experience of the Apostles and the task with which they were entrusted.

  "Through the apostolic ministry," said the Pope. "the Church, the community brought together by the Son of God, ... will live through the ages, building and nourishing the communion in Christ and in the Spirit to which everyone is called and in which everyone can experience the salvation given by the Father.

  "Indeed, the twelve Apostles were careful to provide successors so that the mission entrusted to them would continue after their death. Thus over the centuries the Church, organically structured under the guidance of her legitimate pastors, has continued to live in the world as a mystery of communion which in some way reflects Trinitarian communion itself."

  The Holy Father then explained how "the idea of communion as participation in Trinitarian life" is particularly highlighted in the Gospel of St. John, "where the communion of love binding the Son to the Father and to mankind is at the same time the model and source of the fraternal communion which must unite disciples to one another."

  "During their earthly pilgrimage," Pope Benedict continued, "disciples, through their communion with the Son, can already participate in His divine life and in that of the Father. ... This life of communion, both with God and among ourselves, is the ultimate aim of the announcement of the Good News."

  "Communion, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, is nourished by the Eucharistic bread and expressed through fraternal relations, a kind of anticipation of future glory. ... It is the gift that lifts us out of our solitude and brings us to participate in the love that unites us to God and with one another. It is easy to understand how great this gift is if we only think of the fragmentation and conflicts afflicting relations between individuals, groups and entire peoples."

  The Holy Father concluded: "Communion truly is the good news that remedies all forms of solitude, the precious gift that makes us feel welcomed and loved in God, in the unity of His people gathered in the name of the Trinity; it is the light that makes the Church shine out as a sign raised among peoples."
AG/CHURCH:COMMUNION/...                        VIS 20060329 (420)

SEMINAR ON THE BOLOGNA PROCESS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 28, 2006 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office at 11.30 a.m. on Thursday, March 30, a press conference will be held to present a forthcoming seminar on the Bologna Process. The seminar has been organized by the Congregation for Catholic Education in collaboration with UNESCO-CEPES, and will be held in the Vatican's New Synod Hall from March 30 to April 1.

  The Bologna Process began in 1998 when, on the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, ministers of education from Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy prepared a joint document calling on the entire European Union to create "a European space for higher education." The following year, 1999, ministers from 29 countries meeting in the Italian city of Bologna, also home to one of the earliest European universities, signed a political declaration of intent.

  Thursday's press conference will be attended by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Archbishop Michael J. Miller C.S.B. and Msgr. Angelo Vincenzo Zani, respectively secretary and under-secretary of the same congregation, and Jan Sadlak, director of UNESCO-CEPES.
OP/BOLOGNA PROCESS/GROCHOLEWSKI                VIS 20060328 (200)

MASS ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF JOHN PAUL II

VATICAN CITY, MAR 28, 2006 (VIS) - In St. Peter's Square at 5.30 p.m. on Monday, April 3, Benedict XVI will preside at a Mass marking the first anniversary of the death of John Paul II.

  At 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 2, a year to the day after the late pontiff's demise, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar general for the diocese of Rome, will preside at the recitation of the Rosary in St. Peter's Square. Following the recitation, the Holy Father will greet those present from the window of his private study.
OCL/MASS/JOHN PAUL II                            VIS 20060328 (110)

CARDINALS AND POPE CONTINUE TO MEET IN SERVICE OF CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, MAR 27, 2006 (VIS) - This morning in the Paul VI Hall, Benedict XVI received the 15 new cardinals created in the consistory of March 24, accompanied by members of their families and pilgrims.

  The Pope greeted those presented in the languages of the newly-created cardinals: Italian, English, French, Spanish, Slovene and Polish.

  Addressing Cardinal Albert Vanhoye S.J., the Holy Father thanked him for his "fruitful exegetic labors in studying the Word of God, and the patient transmission of this knowledge to numerous generations of young people, providing them with the means to live by and be witnesses to the Gospel. May everyone regularly dedicate time to nourish themselves from Holy Scripture."

  To the newly-elected Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Toledo, Spain, Benedict XVI said "your people distinguish themselves for their faithfulness to Peter's Successor and their devotion to the Virgin Mary. May she always be the star that guides your particular Churches in the work of evangelization."

  In greeting Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, Poland, the Pope thanked him "for all the years spent alongside John Paul II and for everything this service brought to the Universal Church. I pray that your own future ministry will prove equally fruitful."

  The Pope spoke to the newly-elected cardinals of the need he felt for their collaboration, adding that "the meetings of the entire College of Cardinals with Peter's Successor, such as that of last Thursday, will continue as privileged moments to seek together how best to serve the Church, entrusted by Christ to our care."
AC/.../NEW CARDINALS                            VIS 20060327 (270)

POPE ENCOURAGES CHRISTIANS IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 26, 2006 (VIS) - At midday today, following his morning visit to the Roman parish of God the Merciful Father, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, among them many who came to Rome in the company of their bishops who were elevated to the rank of cardinal in Friday's consistory.

  Before the Marian prayer, the Pope recalled how the recent consistory, in which he created 15 new cardinals, "was an intense ecclesial experience that enabled us to taste the spiritual wealth of collegiality, finding ourselves together among brothers from different backgrounds, all united in a single love for Christ and His Church."

  The Holy Father continued: "In some way, we relived the situation of the first Christian community, united around Peter and Mary Mother of Jesus to welcome the gift of the Spirit and undertake to spread the Gospel throughout world. Faithfulness to this mission even unto the sacrifice of their lives is a distinctive characteristic of cardinals, as their oath testifies and as symbolized by the red they wear, the color of blood."

  By a "providential coincidence," said the Pope, the day of the consistory, March 24, coincided with "the commemoration of missionaries who, over the past year, have died on the frontiers of evangelization and service to man in various parts of the earth. Thus, the consistory provided an opportunity for us to feel closer than ever to those Christians who suffer persecution because of their faith. Their witness, of which news reaches us every day, and especially the sacrifice of those killed, edifies and encourages us to an ever more sincere and generous evangelical commitment.

  "I am thinking particularly," he added, "of those communities living in countries where religious freedom is lacking or where, despite its affirmation in theory, in practice it suffers many restrictions. To all those communities I send warm encouragement to carry on in the patience and charity of Christ, seed of the Kingdom of God to come." Benedict XVI also expressed "solidarity in the name of the entire Church" and "daily recollection in my prayers" to those who work in the service of the Gospel under such difficult conditions.

  "The Church marches forwards in history and spreads over the earth accompanied by Mary, Queen of the Apostles," the Pope concluded. "We ask her to guide us on our daily journey and to protect with special concern those Christian communities undergoing the greatest difficulty and suffering."
ANG/CONSISTORY:MISSIONARIES/...                    VIS 20060327 (430)