LIVE THE JUBILEE AS A MOMENT OF CONVERSION AND RENEWAL

VATICAN CITY, NOV 25, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father received various groups of pilgrims, encouraging them to live the Jubilee "as a moment of conversion and interior renewal."

Addressing a group of civil servants who work for the president of the Italian Republic, the council of ministers, the senate and the chamber of deputies, he called on then not to abandon themselves to "the routine" in their work. "Always look to the people, to their problems and their suffering, even when your only contact with them is through papers and figures, legal codes and dry regulations. Make your work a space for true humanity and an occasion for moral perfection. ... All work can be a path to sanctity."

"The virtues that must shine within you," continued the Pope, "without doubt include loyalty towards the institutions you are called to serve in full respect of the primacy of God: 'Render to Ceaser the things that are Ceaser's, and to God the things that are God's.' ... Christians must be firm witnesses of this principle, going as and when necessary 'against the current.' When this happens, they will find support in the strength of prayer."

Going on to address a group of transport workers, John Paul II encouraged them to make every effort to carry out their duty, despite the difficulties, "as a true act of love. ... Be, for the people you transport, 'cristofori,' carriers of Christ, He who wishes to be met and treated with love in each individual, especially the poorest."

Finally, the Pope greeted a group from the Italian press agency ANSA. He called on the Lord to illuminate them and help them to render the best possible service, something that today calls for special responsibility "because of the general conditions that prevail in the mass media and the influence, not infrequently excessive, exercised by the few major players who hold the power of information."

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GOD CALLS THE LAITY TO RENEWED MISSIONARY DRIVE

VATICAN CITY, NOV 25, 2000 (VIS) - This morning, Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano read a message from the Pope to participants in the Congress of Catholic Laity which is being held in Rome from November 25 to 30 in the "Domus Pacis." The congress is promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

In the message, dated November 21, the Pope recalls that, as baptized we are all members of the Church. He also calls for an awakening, "in the entire People of God, of the true 'sensus Ecclesiae,' together with the intimate awareness of being Church, mystery and communion.

"At the threshold of the third millennium, God calls believers, especially the laity, to renewed missionary drive. ... Christ must be announced with the witness of life and with the word. Prior to being a strategic and organized commitment, the apostolate comports the glad and joyous communication to all of the gift of encountering Christ."

John Paul II affirms that the Church needs lay people and relies upon them, and he encourages them not to become discouraged in the face of difficulties but "to seek in prayer the source of all apostolic strength; draw from the Gospel the light that guides your steps."

"The participation of the laity in the life and mission of the Church," he writes, "is also expressed and supported by various groups." These are "a significant means to more profound Christian formation and more incisive apostolic activity." He expresses his thanks to movements and associations for their efforts in the field of formation and for their missionary enthusiasm.

The Pope affirms that the role of the laity "is essential in the life of the Church," and highlights: "If faith has not been cancelled from the lives of entire peoples, it is thanks, above all, to the courageous witness of the lay faithful, not infrequently to the point of martyrdom."

"The Christian spring, of which we can already see no small number of signs, may be perceived in the radical choice of faith, in the true sanctity of life and in the extraordinary apostolic zeal of many lay faithful, men and women, young people, adults and the elderly. Thus, it is the present generation's task to carry the Gospel to the humanity of tomorrow."

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LETTER FOR 38TH WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 25, 2000 (VIS) - Made public this morning was Pope John Paul's Letter for the 38th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which will take place on May 6, 2001, the fourth Sunday of Easter, on the theme "Life as Vocation."

"Considering life as vocation," writes the Pope, "encourages interior freedom, stirring within the person a desire for the future, as well as the rejection of a notion of existence that is passive, boring and banal. In this way life takes on the value of 'a gift received which, by its nature, tends to become a good given'. Man shows he is reborn in the Spirit when he learns to follow the way of the New Commandment: 'Love one another as I have loved you'. One could say that, in a certain sense, love is the DNA of the children of God: It is 'the holy vocation' by which we have been called."

"We are not alone in fashioning our lives," continues the Holy Father, because "God walks with us, in the midst of our vicissitudes and, if we want Him to, He weaves with each of us a marvelous tale of love, unique and unrepeatable."

However, states the Pope, in western cultures today we see that "God is, to all intents and purposes, marginalized from daily life. Thus there is the need for a unified effort by the entire Christian community to 're-evangelize life'." For this we need "men and women who show the fullness of a life which has God as its source" and for this reason our attention turns, on this world day, "to the need and urgency for ordained ministers and for persons willing to follow Christ on the demanding path of consecrated life in the profession of the evangelical counsels."

John Paul II then had special words for young people, the pastors of the People of God, those in the consecrated life and Christian parents.

"Only Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life," he writes. "It is thus necessary to help (young people) meet the Lord and establish with Him a deep relationship." Pastors have "an important role" in helping all faithful to know the Lord, especially through "their personal witness of a life in which the spirit of service and true Paschal joy are reflected."

May those living the consecrated life, says the Holy Father, "through their presence and their service, open the hearts and minds of young people to horizons of hope filled with God and educate them to humility and to the gratuitousness of loving service."

John Paul II urged parents "not to leave your children alone when faced with the weighty choices of adolescence and youth. Help them not to feel overcome by the anxious search for material well-being and guide them towards the authentic joy of the spirit. Make their hearts echo .... with the liberating joy of faith."

His Letter for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations concludes with a prayer and an invitation to the faithful "together with me, to implore the Lord so the harvest will not be short of workers."

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THE LAITY: LIGHT AND HOPE FOR THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY

VATICAN CITY, NOV 26, 2000 (VIS) - At the end of the Mass in St. Peter's Square this morning to celebrate the World Congress of the Lay Apostolate, and before reciting the angelus, Pope John Paul reflected on the Vatican Council II documents promulgated 35 years ago, including the decree on the apostolate of the laity.

Addressing an estimated 40,000 faithful gathered in the square on a cold and rainy day, the Pope pointed out that he had given to several representatives of the laity copies of Vatican Council II documents. "Today, as then, I wish to symbolically entrust the council patrimony especially to you, dear lay people, apostles of the third millennium, recalling that it was precisely to the laity - government leaders, scientists and intellectuals, artists, women, workers, young people, the poor and the ill - that the Council gave its concluding message destined for all of mankind.

Greeting the pilgrims in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish, the Holy Father encouraged "the lay faithful to study the Council's teaching, to love and live its message. In this way the laity will be the light and hope for the Church and for society. May Christ, the Eternal King, guide and strengthen you always!"

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TO LAY FAITHFUL: DO NOT BE AFRAID TO BE SAINTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 26, 2000 (VIS) - Today in St. Peter's Square, John Paul II presided at a Eucharistic celebration marking the occasion of the World Congress of Catholic Laity. The congress began yesterday in Rome on the theme: "Witnesses of Christ in the Third Millennium."

The Pope indicated that "with Vatican Council II, the hour of the laity in the Church truly arrived and many lay faithful, men and women, came to understand more clearly their own Christian vocation which, by its very nature, is a vocation to the apostolate. Thirty five years after its conclusion, we must return to the Council. We must reconsider the documents of Vatican II in order to rediscover the great wealth of doctrinal and pastoral stimuli."

He continued: "The documents must be especially reconsidered by you, the lay faithful, to whom the Council opened extraordinary prospects for involvement and commitment in the Church's mission."

The Holy Father told the lay faithful that "today more than ever, your apostolate is indispensable in order for the Gospel to become light, salt and leavening of a new humanity. ... The Jubilee invites everyone to a serious examination of conscience and a lasting spiritual renewal for ever more incisive missionary action." He added that, as "witnesses of Christ" the laity are especially called to "bring the light of the Gospel into the vital nerve centers of society."

"For believers, sanctity continues to be the greatest challenge," he highlighted. "We must be grateful to Vatican Council II which reminded us how all Christians are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. ... Do not be afraid to take up this challenge: be saintly men and women! Do not forget that the fruits of the apostolate depend on the profundity of spiritual life, on the intensity of prayer, on constant formation and on ever more sincere adherence to the Church's directives. ... If you live Christianity without compromise, you can light up the world."

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