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Christus Rex Information ServiceVATICAN CITY, SEP 28, 1996 (VIS) - Pope John Paul celebrated mass this morning in the private chapel of the papal residence at Castelgandolfo for the repose of the souls of his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul I. Fr. Diego Lorenzi concelebrated with him for the small group of faithful from Castelgandolfo.
Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, in the name of the Holy Father, also celebrated a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at 12 noon today for the deceased pontiffs whom he recalled in his homily as "masters of sound doctrine, faithful and wise dispensers of those truths which lead us to Heaven."
"The closeness of the priestly jubilee of the Holy Father ... induces us to ask of the two pontiffs whom we commemorate today a specific word on the theme of priesthood and, in particular, on the deep union which links the priesthood to the mystery of Christ."
He recalled the "very rich" teaching of Paul VI on the identity of the priestly ministry, in a period which had placed it under discussion. "Also frequent were Pope Luciani's (John Paul I) interventions on the theme of priesthood. If one analyzes his writings ... his fidelity to Vatican Council II clearly emerges."
Cardinal Sodano quoted a work by the future John Paul I when he was patriarch of Venice in 1971, in which he said: "Representing (Christ), we make the Mass a privileged moment, in which our ministry and that of the local Church find their full realization." He linked these words to those of John Paul II, spoken in 1995 during the congress on the decree "Presbyterorum ordinis": "The holy Mass is, in the most absolute way, the center of my life and my every day."
At the end of his homily, the secretary of state said: "Yes, the life of these two great pontiffs was indeed 'a life hidden with Christ in God', because both knew how 'to lose it' for Christ, having placed it in his hands from the very day of their priestly ordination."
VATICAN CITY, SEP 28, 1996 (VIS) - Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for Rome, has addressed a message to the diocese and to the city of Rome in which he invites them to celebrate the forthcoming 50th anniversary of Pope John Paul's priestly ordination.
A prayer vigil to prepare the diocese for this jubilee celebration will take place in St. John Lateran Cathedral on Sunday, October 27, 1996. The Holy Father will celebrate Mass on November 1, the anniversary of his ordination day.
In his message Cardinal Ruini asks the faithful to pray for the Pope, as his anniversary nears, so that the Lord "will sustain and comfort him in spirit and body so that he may be for us all and for a long time, a guide in the faith, in the love of God and our brothers and in the hope which never disappoints."
VATICAN CITY, SEP 28, 1996 (VIS) - Eighty-two English-speaking bishops of mission countries are currently at the midway point of a seminar sponsored by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and taking place at the St. Paul College in Rome.
The encounter, which runs September 16 to October 5, is the third such meeting for prelates of mission lands that the congregation has organized. The first one was in 1994 for French-speaking bishops, and the second was held last year for English language bishops.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, spoke in the opening session on "The current situation in faith and theology." Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler, S.D.B., spoke that same afternoon on "The Roman Curia: the official organ of the Pope at the service of the particular churches." On the second day, Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, talked to the bishops on the activities of this congregation.
All talks given in this seminar will be published in English and French within a year.
VATICAN CITY, SEP 28, 1996 (VIS) - Bishop Pierre Duprey, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, accompanied by Fr. Jozef Maj, an official of the Oriental section of the council, will be in Minsk, Belarus, from October 1-3 where he will participate in the 2nd Interdenominational Conference, according to a communique published today.
The conference will treat the theme "To preserve the unity of the spirit through the link of peace," and follows the conference which took place in Moscow 1995 on the theme "Christian Faith and Human Enmity." It has been organized under the sponsorship of the patriarchate of Moscow, as a fruit of collaboration between the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church and the ecclesial communities traditionally present in the current Commonwealth of Independent States.
Bishop Duprey will bring conference participants a message from the Holy Father.
VATICAN CITY, SEP 28, 1996 (VIS) - The Holy Father nominated Bishop Rodolfo Francisco Bobadilla Mata, C.M., apostolic vicar of El Peten, Guatemala, as bishop of Huehuetenango (area 7,400, population 585,000, Catholics 468,000, priests 21, religious 65), Guatemala. Bishop Bobadilla Mata was born in Guatemala City in 1932, made his perpetual vows in the community of the Fathers of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul in 1954, was ordained a priest in 1958 and a bishop in 1987.
The 68-year-old Chicago archbishop, in Rome on a private visit, said he hoped to return in November to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the pope's ordination as a priest.
No other details were given of the meeting, announced in the Vatican's daily bulletin of papal audiences.
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