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Christus Rex Information ServiceVATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 1996 (VIS) - The Holy Father sent a message, made public today, to Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, who participated in a colloquium on Saturday, August 31 in Malines, Belgium, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the "Malines Conversations" between Catholics and Anglicans.
Cardinal Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, read the papal message at the end of the congress. "The 'Malines Conversations' which began in 1921 and lasted for five years," writes John Paul II, "were the fruit of the joint initiative of three ecumenical pioneers: Cardinal Mercier, the then Archbishop of Mechelen, Lord Halifax and the Abbe Fernand Portal. Impelled by indomitable faith, these remarkable witnesses to the urgency of Christ's plea for unity hoped for the return to full communion" between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church.
The Pope later notes that "the results of the Malines Conversations matured with the passage of time." He recalls the contacts between Pope John XXIII and Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher of Canterbury, whose "bonds of friendship and esteem were strengthened during the course of the Second Vatican Council."
Thirty years ago, continues the message, "Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey agreed to set up the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission as an instrument designed to help in restoring unity in truth ... ." The Holy Father expresses his "fervent prayer that the International Commission will continue its mission of pursuing and expressing 'the whole truth into which the Holy Spirit guides Christ's disciples'."
"It is my hope," concludes the Pope, "that this 75th anniversary of the Malines conversations will give fresh impetus to the dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans."
VATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 1996 (VIS) - Made public today was the speech given by Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on August 31 in Malines-Brussels during and ecumenical prayer celebration for the 75th anniversary of the "Malines Conversations".
"The final years of this 20th century have shown beyond all doubt that there is a widespread aspiration and deep longing for Christian Unity ... . Among Christians of every denomination one can observe a growing conviction that the Lord is calling us to strive to overcome our divisions, ... and surely we cannot go on resisting his call."
The cardinal concluded by exhorting "all those exercising responsibility in our two communities" - Anglican and Catholic - "to commit themselves deeply to the ecumenical movement" although, he adds, "I regret to say that much still has to be done" before it will be possible to affirm truthfully the Lord's desire: "'Father, may they ... be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.'"
VATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 1996 (VIS) - The International Symposium of Military Bishops opened yesterday afternoon in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a speech delivered by Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who highlighted the three main roles of the military ordinariate: a service offered to youth, a mission for peace and understanding, and a ministry that promises to become more and more international.
Referring to the compulsory military service required in many countries, Cardinal Gantin said that military ordinariates must strive to help youth "transform an obligatory occupation into a providential task." For this reason, it is necessary for military pastoral ministry "to foresee how to initiate the young, and the not-so-young, in the discernment of spirits, a discernment which allows a more conscious, more 'vocational' life choice ... ."
As regards the military ordinariate's mission of peace, Cardinal Gantin made the distinction that "learning to use arms is one thing, and actually using them is another." And he added: "A military ordinariate is not only a service for peace: to this end it must be and continue to be a school of peace."
"The military ordinariate will have to be a particular Church open to the dimensions of the universal Church," the prefect went on. "Certainly, military service must be understood and lived as international service, service for peace and service for unity."
In his concluding comments, Cardinal Gantin suggested that military ordinariates must increase their own awareness of their role in the Church, "in light of the apostolic constitution 'Spirituali militum curae'"; that they should "develop a greater vision of what his faith life as Christian life lived in the Church means to a lay person in the military"; and that they should seek a greater presence of priests formed specifically to minister in these military ordinariates.
VATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 1996 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following statement today:
"As previously announced, Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano received this morning in audience in the Vatican Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority. Also present were Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for relations with states and Afif Safieh, director of the PLO's Office of Representation to the Holy See.
"During the cordial talk, they examined the situation of the peace process and the difficulties that exist in the negotiations between the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the accomplishment and continuation of what has up to now been concluded after the Oslo Accords.
"They also spoke about the situation of the Palestinian population of Cisjordania and Gaza, of the known economic difficulties encountered by it and of the impossibility for many of going to Israel and to Jerusalem.
"Also examined were the delicate problem of the Holy City, of great interest to both parties, and the issue of freedom of religion in Jerusalem itself and in the various countries of the region. Later, they considered with particular interest the need for cooperation among all the parties involved in order to coordinate a profitable preparation of the Great Jubilee of 2000.
"Finally, the cardinal secretary of state presented President Arafat with a special greeting from the Holy Father, with the wish that the difficulties existent in the peace process be quickly overcome, in favor of well-being and security for the Palestinian and Israeli populations."
VATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 1996 (VIS) - John Paul II will be in France from September 19 to 22. This 74th pastoral trip will be the fifth visit by the Pope to that country. He will visit Tours, St. Laurent-sur-Sevre, Ste. Anne-d'Auray, Tours and Reims, in that order.
France has an area of 549,000 square kilometers and a population of 57,750,000 inhabitants (1994), of which 47,683,000 are Catholics. There are 98 ecclesiastical circumscriptions and 176 bishops (as of June 30, 1996), 34,902 parishes and pastoral centers, with 29,503 priests (1994), 1018 permanent deacons and 64,479 religious and members of secular institutes. In 1994 the major seminarians totaled 1,601.
The Church in France has 6,780 kindergartens and primary schools, 2,731 middle schools, 182 secondary schools, upper institutes and universities; for a total of 2,015,370 school children and 56,913 upper-level students. There are 1,381 social welfare and medical institutions managed by the Church.
VATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 1996 (VIS) - Following are data on prelates who have died in recent weeks:
- Lorenzo Bellomi; 67; bishop of Trieste; born in S. Lucia Extra, Italy; 8-
23-96.
- Jaime Brufau Macia, C.M.; 74; bishop emeritus of San Pedro Sula; born in
Vilanova de Bellpuig, Spain; 8-17-96.
- James Joseph Byrne; 88; archbishop emeritus of Dubuque; born in St. Paul,
U.S.A.; 8-2-96.
- Pierre Lucien Claverie, O.P.; 58; bishop of Oran; born in Alger, Algeria; 8-
1-96.
- Dominic Joseph Conway; 78; bishop emeritus of Elphin; born in Longford,
Ireland; 8-22-96.
- Adriano Mandarino Hypolito, O.F.M.; 78; bishop emeritus of Nova Iguacu; born
in Aracaju, Brazil; 8-10-96.
- Anibal Maricevich Fleitas; 78; bishop emeritus of Concepcion; born in
Ypacarai; 8-2-96.
- William Joseph Moran; 90; former auxiliary of the military ordinariate for
the U.S.A.; born in San Francisco, U.S.A.; 8-22-96.
- Jozef Rozwadowski; 87; bishop emeritus of Lodz; born in Cracow, Poland; 8-
3-96.
- Joseph Asajiro Satowaki; 92; cardinal, archbishop emeritus of Nagasaki; born
in Shittsu, Japan; 8-8-96.
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