SEMINARIANS MUST BE PROTAGONISTS OF THEIR PRIESTLY FORMATION

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received a group of 360 seminarians, rectors and professors from Sicily's major seminaries, together with Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, archbishop of Palermo and the prelates of Sicily's 18 dioceses in which the seminaries are present. He stressed the role of bishops, superiors and professors in the formation of seminarians, but added that "the candidate to the priesthood himself must be a protagonist of his formation."

The Holy Father praised initiatives in Sicily aimed at the formation of seminarians as well as the permanent formation of priests. With respect to ongoing formation, he quoted his 1992 Apostolic Exhortation "Pastores Dabo Vobis": "With priests who have just come out of the seminary, a certain sense of 'having had enough' is quite understandable, when faced with new times of study and meeting. But the idea that priestly formation ends on the day one leaves the seminary is false and dangerous, and needs to be totally rejected."

The Pope expressed gratitude for the increase of priestly vocations in Sicily but added that prayers and a pastoral ministry for vocations in parishes, schools and families is an ongoing process. "There must also be." he said, "a qualitative growth, through constant attention to the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of the young aspirants (to the priesthood)."

"Human formation is the foundation of the entire priestly formation process and it is important for the seminary to be a privileged place in which are cultivated the human qualities necessary for building well-balanced and mature, strong and free personalities, capable of allowing one, as a priest, to bear the weight of pastoral responsibilities."

John Paul II noted that "human formation is completed in spiritual formation" and he underlined the importance of listening to the Word of God, prayer, the generous giving of oneself, a sense of Church, priestly obedience, and a willingness to live poverty and celibacy.

"In the current socio-cultural context," he went on, "marked by a widespread religious indifference and distrust in the real capacities of reason to reach objective and universal truth, ... intellectual formation demands a high level of commitment in studies, in full fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church."

The Holy Father dedicated closing remarks to pastoral formation, saying this "is the ultimate objective of the entire formative period in the seminary as it aims 'at forming true pastors of souls in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, teacher, priest and pastor."

AC;SEMINARIANS;...;SICILY;VIS;20021118;Word: 420;

BRAZILIAN BISHOPS: HELP THE FAMILY ESPECIALLY

VATICAN CITY NOV 16, 2002 (VIS) - In his speech to prelates from Eastern Region II of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, who just completed their "ad limina" visit, the Pope spoke about the need to especially support families, resisting "the harmful threats of an individualist culture."

After recalling that during his pontificate he has insisted on the importance of the family's role in society, John Paul II emphasized that in addition to the values of the Brazilian tradition, such as respect, solidarity and privacy, other social factors exist which threaten to "de-stabilize the family nucleus."

"A lack of moral values," he said, "opens the door to infidelity and the dissolution of marriage. The civil laws that promote divorce and threaten life by trying to introduce abortion officially; the population control campaigns that ... encourage thousands of women to be sterilized and to use contraception, especially in the north, have dramatic consequences."

In addition, he continued, "there are many attempts, in public opinion and civil legislation, at equating the family with mere de facto unions and at recognizing same sex unions as marriages. These and other anomalies urge us to proclaim with pastoral firmness the truth on marriage and family. It would be a serious pastoral omission not to do so."

"It is necessary to give a firm response to this situation, especially through more incisive educational and catechetic activity. ... In this sense, I would like to recall the need to respect the inalienable dignity of the woman, in order to strengthen her important role, in the home as well as in society in general."

The Holy Father underscored that one cannot "forget that the family must bear witness to its own values before itself and society. ... Married couples must be the first to give testimony to the grandeur of conjugal and family life, founded in fidelity to the commitment assumed before God. Thanks to the sacrament of matrimony, human love acquires supernatural value."

The Pope asked those who work in the pastoral ninistry for families to give a "new impulse to the defense and promotion of the institution of family" through the teachings of the Church, courses for those getting married and encounters with couples leading an exemplary married life or with priests experienced in dealing with married couples.

John Paul II said that "the contrasting opinions of theologians, priests and religious, disclosed extensively by the media, on premarital relations, birth control, the admission of divorced people to the sacraments, homosexuality and lesbianism, artificial insemination or the use of abortive practices or euthanasia, show the great uncertainty and confusion that disturb and numb the conscience of many faithful."
At the end of his speech, the Holy Father referred to marriage annulments. The ecclesiastical judge, he affirmed, must keep in mind that "to authentically apply the norms, the credibility of the revealed faith and peace of consciences are also at stake. ... I hope that in this delicate interdisciplinary process," he concluded, "faithfulness to the revealed truth on marriage and the family, interpreted in an accurate way by the Magisterium of the Church, is always the point of reference and the true stimulus for a profound renewal of this sector in ecclesiastical life."

AL;...;...;BRAZIL;VIS;20021118;Word: 530;

ANGELUS: ITALY CELEBRATES DAY OF THE MIGRANT

VATICAN CITY, NOV 17, 2002 - Before reciting the Angelus today with the faithful gathered below his apartment window overlooking St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul noted that Italy today celebrates the Day of Migrants, adding that this is "an annual appointment that invites the ecclesial and civil communities to reflect on this important and complex social phenomenon."

"We live in an era of profound changes," said the Pope, "that touch persons, ethnic groups and peoples. Even today we note serious inequalities, especially between the north and south of the world. This causes the earth, which is ever more a 'global village', to be unfortunately for some a place of poverty and deprivation, while great wealth is concentrated in the hands of others. In this context, 'the other one' risks being considered a competitor, all the more so if they are 'different' in language, nationality and culture."

The Holy Father added that "for this reason it is important to spread a spirit of welcoming, translated into social behavior of attention, especially towards the needy. ... I hope that families, associations and the ecclesial and civil communities will become ever more places of hospitality, civil coexistence and fertile dialogue. May immigrants, for their part, know how to respect the law of the State that welcomes them and thus contribute to a better insertion in the new social context."

ANG;MIGRANTS;...;...;VIS;20021118;Word: 230;

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed F. Alapati Mataeliga, coordinator of the Pastoral Center of the archdiocese of Samoa-Apia, Independent State of Samoa as metropolitan archbishop of the same archdiocese (area 2,922, population 183,000, Catholics 30,336, priests 50, religious 117). The archbishop-elect was born in 1953 on Savaii Island, Samoa and was ordained a priest in 1977. He succeeds Cardinal Pio Taofinu'u, S.M., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Cosimo Semeraro, S.D.B., as secretary of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences and Fr. Vittorino Grossi, O.S.A., as a member of the same Pontifical Committee.

NER; RE; NA;...;...;...;VIS;20021118;Word: 120;

LUTHERAN DELEGATION FROM NORWAY WELCOMED IN VATICAN

VATICAN CITY, NOV 16, 2002 (VIS) - Bishop Finn Wagle and a delegation from the Lutheran diocese of Nidaros in Norway, in Rome for the feast day of St. Olav, patron of Norway, were welcomed to the Vatican this morning by the Holy Father.

The Pope recalled his visit to Norway and the Scandinavian nations in 1989, and said that "the ecumenical service in the cathedral of Nidaros ... was a sign of new and deeper ecumenical relations between us, improved relations which, in 1993, enabled the Lutheran Church to allow the Catholic community to celebrate in the old cathedral the 150th anniversary of the re-establishment of the Catholic Church in Norway."

"We are committed," stated John Paul II, "to moving further ahead on the path to reconciliation. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church, signed in 1999, paves the way for a more extensive common witness. It brings us a step closer to the full visible unity which is the goal of our dialogue."

AC;LUTHERANS; NORWAY;...;WAGLE;VIS;20021118;Word: 180;