News from the Holy See

VATICAN/ERITREA: APOSTOLIC NUNCIO NAMED

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 30 - The pope has named Msgr. Patrick Coveney of Ireland as the apostolic nuncio in Eritrea, it was announced here today.
Coveney, 60, is titular archbishop of Sastriano and apostolic pro-nuncio in Ethiopia.

VATICAN: POPE HOLDS UP AFRICA TO WORLD'S CONSCIENCE

(ANSA) - Castel Gandolfo, September 24 - Pope John Paul II, just back a few days ago from a trip to Africa, held up that continent to the world's conscience today, lambasting ''that world of opulence'' which makes no scruples about depriving the poor of their resources and investing them in ''homicidal weapons''.
In imparting his Sunday blessing to the crowd gathered outside his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, he recalled with pleasure the colors, sights, sounds and rhythms of Africa but also recalled the evident signs of ''a long history of humiliations''.
Too often, Africa was looked upon with only egoistic interests in mind, he said. ''Today Africa wants to be esteemed and loved for what it is. It does not ask for compassion. It asks for solidarity'', the pope declared.
He cited the efforts of President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to create ''pacification in cooperation''.
At the same time he was well aware that fratricidal conflicts still plague certain regions. The entire continent labors under the enormous weight of poverty, malnutrition, endemic diseases, illiteracy, and mounting indebtedness, he reminded his listeners.
Despite all this, Africa holds out vast promise, a reserve of hope, because of its great store of traditional values which resist the siren calls of consumerism, the pope went on. He praised the deep religious feeling of the Africans, their sense of family and their respect for human life.

John Paul II has made 11 trips to the African continent (his latest trip, from September 14 to 20, took him to Cameroon, South Africa and Kenya). The leader of Roman Catholicism said today that he wanted to thus encourage the young clergy and catechists on a continent where the church is taking root and growing stronger day by day.
Today's Angelus blessing will be the last the pope will make this year from his summer residence. He will back in the Vatican for his regular general audience on Wednesday.

VATICAN: POPE TO LATIN AMERICA, SLOVENIA, GERMANY, FRANCE... IN 1996

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 22 - Pope John Paul II's travel plans outside Italy for 1996 include a trip to Latin America and to three European countries: Slovenia, Germany and France, the Vatican announced today.
Early in February of next year, the pope will embark on a week-long itinerary that will take him to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Salvador and Venezuela; all countries that he will be visiting for the second time, having been in these places before, either in 1983 or 1985.
In spring he will go to Slovenia, most likely in May, thus becoming the first Roman pontiff to land in that young republic.
In June he is expected in Berlin, a city where no pope has ever set foot before. He may also travel to several other German cities (mention has been made of Wittenberg, the site of Luther's revolt) and possibly to some eastern European venues, such as Pannonhalma in Hungary.
In September, John Paul is to preside over rites marking the 15th centenary of the first baptism of a King of France, Clovis, in the year 496 in Rheims. The celebration will be held in the famed gothic cathedral of Rheims on September 22 and will be preceded by papal visits to St. Anne of Brittany, an ancient sanctuary, and to the Tours cathedral where the pope will pray on the tomb of St. Martin, an apostle to the Gauls in the 4th century.
In the meantime, John Paul has not given up hope of one day traveling to Sarajevo, to Jerusalem and to Lebanon, but these destinations still seem off limits in the short term, Vatican officials said.
However, a return trip to France has already been envisaged for the pope in August of 1997 when he plans to go to Paris for the next World Youth rally, a rendezvous he already referred to when addressing youths in Manila last January. French President Jacques Chirac will officially invite the pontiff to make the trips to France in 1996 and in 1997 when Chirac makes his own official visit to the Vatican on January 21, 1996.

VATICAN: CALLS FOR ETHICS STANDARDS IN NUCLEAR APPLICATIONS

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 22 - The Vatican called for ''a consistent commitment'' from the International Atomic Energy Agency to find ''adequate ethics standards'' in the applications of nuclear energy at the 39th Conference of the Agency held in Vienna.
Holy See representative at the conference, Monsignor Mario Zenari, also requested that more attention be given to find peaceful applications for nuclear energy, claiming that ''all citizens must be informed and aware of the situation, and their worries should not be underestimated.''
Mons. Zenari stressed the dangers inherent in nuclear technology, especially considering the fact that nuclear materials are now the stuff of ''smugglers, adventurers and swindlers.''
To conclude he also called for compensation for victims of nuclear activity, commenting that it was ''a matter of justice. Sharing the risk is a matter of solidarity, estimating the risks is a matter of honesty.''

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TELEVIDEO - Wednesday, September 20, 1995 -09:55:23

POPE: IT IS A MORAL DUTY TO HELP AFRICA

"The people of Africa cry for help, cooperation amd solidarity, for a real respect of all persons, whether rich or poor, strong or weak, all united with equal dignity in a single human family."

The Pope left Nairobi, the last stage of his journey to Africa, with this appeal to a "moral imperative" of the richer nations to help the poor ones.
The huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor regions of the planet - warned the Supreme Pontiff - represents a serious threat to global stability.

VATICAN: NAIROBI, POPE SPEAKS OF RUANDA AND BURUNDI TRAGEDY

(ANSA) - Nairobi, September 19 - On the last day of his six-day African tour, Pope John Paul II addressed over 200,000 people from all over Kenya and from neighboring African countries in Nairobi's Uhuru Park today.
Celebrating an open mass together with 50 bishops, the Pope spoke of the ''tragedy'' of Ruanda and Burundi, and declared that there must be ''forgiveness and reconciliation'' between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes involved in the massacres.
Pope John Paul II also referred to the ''tormented'' country of Sudan, and to Zaire, ''whose different tribes still find it difficult to work together democratically.''
The theme of the Papal mass, interspersed with songs and tribal dances, was the unity of the family. Since African society is deeply rooted in the family, he said, ''it is a treasure to be preserved and never to be underestimated.''
This is the Pope's eleventh trip to Africa. He celebrated masses in the Uhuru Park both in 1980 and in 1985. The reason he visits Africa so often, he said, is that ''this is the continent of the family.''

GEN: ''MIRACLE'' OF SAN GENNARO OCCURS ON SCHEDULE

(ANSA) - Naples, September 19 - The ''miracle'' of the liquefaction of the blood of Naples' patron saint San Gennaro (St. Januarius) recurred this morning right on schedule as over 4,000 people prayed in the city's cathedral.
Naples archbishop, Cardinal Michele Giordano, held up the glass container at 10:07 and swirled around the dark red liquid inside for all to see that liquefaction had occured for the second time this year. He then celebrated mass.
The glass-encased relic will remain on view in the cathedral for eight days before being placed back in a safe kept in the chapel of the Treasury.
The blood is taken out of custody twice a year, on the saint's feast day (September 19) and on the Saturday preceeding the first Sunday in May.
St Januarius was a Christian martyr, the Bishop of Beneventum (today's Benevento, to the south-east of Naples), believed to have suffered in the persecution ordered by Roman Emperor Diocletian around the year 305.

On his feast day and on the Saturday preceding the first Sunday in May a silver bust believed to contain the saint's head is placed on the altar in the cathedral and the vial containing what is described as the relic of his blood is held up to view and sometimes inverted while the people fervently pray for the ''miracle'' of liquefaction, a sign of the martyr's blessing which sometimes is withheld.
In September the blood usually liquefies the very first day, but in May it usually takes several days of fervent prayer before the ''miracle'' occurs.
The first historical reference to the liquefaction of the martyr's blood is dated 1389.
One group of Italian scientists have established that the substance in the vial is blood but have been unable to explain its liquefaction.
Skeptics think the alleged phenomenon is due to shaking or the warmth of hands.

THE ELECTRONIC TELEGRAPH - Monday 18 September 1995 - WORLD NEWS

Follow S Africa's lead, Pope pleads

By Alec Russell in Johannesburg

THE POPE celebrated the first papal Mass in South Africa yesterday and appealed to the continent and the world to follow the country's example in rejecting violence and striving for reconciliation.

"The whole church is comforted and people everywhere rejoice in the change that has come about in South Africa during the last few years," he told a congregation at Gosforth Park racecourse in Johannesburg.

About 80,000, including President Mandela and his predecessor, F W de Klerk, attended, many travelling from the furthest corners of the country.

Mr Michael Mlambo, 68, a retired teacher, had travelled through the night from his Durban township, 380 miles away. "This only comes once in a lifetime," he said. "I think it will send a message of peace through the whole country."

The six-day African tour is designed to close the Africa Synod which opened in Rome last year and to release its findings on how to forge a closer relationship between the Church and Africa.

In his address, the Pope called on the world to focus on alleviating Africa's suffering, a central theme of his three-nation tour which ends in Kenya this week.

On the first leg in Cameroon, he issued the Synod's findings in a document which compared Africa to a man beaten near to death, and urged clergymen to strike back at corruption.

He was to reissue the document to southern African bishops in Johannesburg last night.

VATICAN: POPE MEETS TUTU

(ANSA) - Johannesburg, September 17 - In a break with ceremony before the proclamation of the African synod's document on Justice and Peace here this evening, Pope John Paul II went out of his way to give a long, warm handshake to South Africa's Anglican primate Desmond Tutu, Nobel prizewinner for his anti- apartheid efforts in 1984.
Just before the ceremony was due to start in the Catholic cathedral here, the pope spied Tutu in the third row of the congregation.
After the handshake, the two religious leaders spoke for about a minute, before the pope opened the ceremony with a sermon recognising that ''Africa has had a long, sad history of exploitation at the hands of others,'' a situation that ''endures today in other forms,'' but calling on the continent's leaders to shoulder the responsibility for remedying Africa's ills.
Among the troubles of the continent, he cited poverty, the ''scandalous'' arms traffic, dumping of toxic waste, and ''iniquitous trade terms'' including ''excessively severe conditions'' for debt restructuring.

Also present to hear the pope's message were South Africa's Muslim and Protestant leaders, Catholic prelates from all over Africa, and many representatives of the diplomatic corps.
After seeming fatigued at the end of a morning mass attended by 200,000 people at the city's racetrack, the pope appeared rested and in good health during the ceremony.
Tomorrow the pope will leave for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the last stage of his African tour.

VATICAN: POPE URGES AFRICAN WOMEN TO DEFEAT VIOLENCE

(ANSA) - Johannesburg, September 17 - Pope John Paul II, speaking during an African mass conducted here today with a chorus of hundreds of singers and dancers in tribal costume, called on African women to take the lead in defeating violence and quelling racial and ethnic conflicts.
The three hour mass began with a song by a bare-chested Xhosa warrior, praising the Pope and celebrating the end of apartheid, followed by an acrobatic dance by an African Dominican friar.
''The primary challenge for the peoples of Africa is to convert to solidarity - the only path possible to overcome the moral defeat of racial stereotypes and ethnic rivalries,'' Pope John Paul told the the crowd of 200,000 who attended the mass.
''Women of Africa, you have a unique role in humanizing society. You are the most sensitive to the meaning of justice and to the demands for peace because you are closer to the meaning of life. The Church appeals to you in particular to respect, admire and serve life - every human life,'' the pope said.

VATICAN: POPE BLESSES MANDELA AND NEW SOUTH AFRICA

(ANSA) - Johannesburg, September 16 - Stepping off the plane on his first official visit here, Pope John Paul II praised South African President Nelson Mandela as a ''witness of the new South Africa'' and invoked God's help for him, his government, and ''all his fellow citizens in the great task of reconciliation that awaits you.''
After blessing and kissing a few clumps of South African earth in baskets held up to him by four young women of various ethnic origin, the pope shook Mandela's hand long and hard.
Replying to the official welcome in English and Afrikaans, John Paul recalled that ''Africa has a central place in my affection and concern'' and stressed that he had come to the southernmost part of the continent to ''answer a moral challenge.''
Going on to explain, he noted that ''Africa is changing. We still do not know where this change will lead. But we do know that the hopes and expectations of millions of human beings cannot be ignored.''

''That is why, at the beginning of my visit to the new South Africa, a nation that has placed itself firmly on the way to reconciliation between all its inhabitants, I wish to pay tribute to you who, after being a silent but participating witness to your people's yearning for true liberation, have now taken on the responsibility of challenging all to succeed in the task of reconciliation and reconstruction.''
After referring to the symbolic value of South Africa as a ''rainbow nation'' of several languages and ethnic groups, representing the whole African continent, the pope recalled his first meeting with Mandela in the Vatican in June 1990, a few months after he was freed after 26 years in prison.
He also praised former president Frederik Willem De Klerk, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Mandela in 1993, saying he was ''grateful along with everyone else for the wisdom and courage with which you acted.''
The pope said that '' in our prayers we wish to entrust to God all those who have worked and suffered, and continue to struggle so that the day may come when the dignity of all is entirely recognised and respected in this land and all over the continent.''
In his speech to the pope, Mandela recalled the solidarity the pontiff had always shown for the South African people's struggle.

''South Africans have been waiting for this day for many years,'' he said. ''If your visit, Your Holiness, has been long delayed, it was because we knew your rejection of the apartheid system, since you abhorred a system that treated the children of God as if they were less than human beings.''
''But your message of peace, justice, and democracy reached us in all its force,'' Mandela went on, ''and inspired us to fight for the freedom, unity and reconciliation which have become the salient feature of our young democracy.''
After noting the tribute paid to the Catholic Church's contribution against apartheid (although only 7.4 percent of the population are Catholics), the pope promised that Catholics will continue to build the new South African society, ''in harmony with all the other religious components.''
''The epoch-making transformation that South Africa is fighting for,'' the pope concluded, ''will require the best that all can give for the good of all.''
''It will take a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice. The final success will be at bottom a gift from the All Powerful, Lord of Life and of human history. May He sustain you, President Mandela, the vice presidents, the members of the government, and all your fellow citizens in the great task that lies before you.''

Taking his leave of a festive crowd in the airport and the surrounding streets, the pope headed off in a motorcade for Pretoria, where he will be received this evening by top officials and diplomats.
In the late evening he will return to Johannesburg in a private capacity.

REL: PAPAL APPEAL TO 'SAVE AFRICA'

(ANSA) - Yaounde, Cameroon, September 15 - Pope John Paul II called on ''a world controlled by rich and powerful nations'' to ''save Africa and its people who are suffering.''
''Give them the chance, at least, not to lose hope,'' the pope said in a strong appeal to the world's 'haves' not to abandon its 'have-nots' to the poverty, famine, war, disease and misery.
John Paul, speaking at the African bishops synod here today, called on Africans of all tribal and ethnic groups to ''overcome hate'' and ''be tirelessly forgiving.''

(In New York, police were planning extra security for the pope when he travels there next month, the New York Post reported.
Mail boxes and trash cans will be removed along his route to ward off the risk of bombs being placed, the daily said, adding that the US President's own security force, the Secret Service, would accompany the pope.
President Bill Clinton will meet the pontiff on October 4 in Newark, New Jersey, the White House said today. On October 5, John Paul II will address the UN General Assembly.)

UN/WOMEN: DOCUMENTS APPROVED, VATICAN 'DISAPPOINTED'

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 15 - The Beijing conference on women, the largest gathering ever organised by the United Nations, drew to a close here Friday when the full assembly approved the Beijing Declaration and the Action Platform.
The Declaration was approved unanimously but the Plan for Action drew reservations and negative comments from the Vatican and some 40 other mainly Islamic and Latin American nations.
Talks went on into the small hours of Friday morning to hammer out a compromise on the Platform for Action, which is intended as a blueprint for women's rights over the next ten years. The biggest wrangles were over sexual orientation which was removed from a clause which contained a list of factors relating to which discrimination was banned, while sexual rights were placed amongst human rights.
Another clause admits interpretation of the blueprint in the light of each country's cultural, ethical and religious identity.

The conference, which began on September 4, was attended by 10,000 delegates from 189 countries, while a parallel gathering of non-governmental organisations saw 30,000 mainly female delegates from all over the world descend on Huairou, 55 miles from Beijing, for their meeting.
Despite discord over some areas of the final statements, especially on the issue of sexual orientation, the majority of delegations were happy with the bulk of the conclusions. All of them approved the Beijing Declaration, a political statement of intent and commitment which in the long run may prove the be the more influential of the two documents issued.
Many, however, had reservations over the Platform for Action, with the Vatican leading the way.
In a press conference called while the final plenary session was still under way, the Vatican's chief delegate Mary Ann Glendon, the first women ever to guide a Catholic delegation, said ''we are unhappy that the text places too much emphasis on individualism... with excessive attention paid to sexual health and fertility at the expense, for example, of literacy.''
The Vatican representative also lamented the fact that fresh resources had not been earmarked for development which, she said, is essential for female liberation.

The Platform for action, which contains 300 paragraphs in almost 200 pages, pinpoints 12 areas crucial in the campaign to give women an equal chance: poverty, education, healthcare, violence, women's role in armed conflicts, economic structures, sharing power and decision-making, instruments for promoting women, women's human rights, the media, the environment and youth.
The five-page Declaration, on the other hand, stresses the need for ''equal rights, opportunities and access to resources'' as well as equal responsibilities within the family. Chapter eight underlines the fact that sexual equality is a fundamental factor in the universal declaration of human rights.
Resources listed as essential for women include ''the earth, credit, science, technology, education, information, means of communication and the market.''
Analysts pointed to the background role played by the United States - except for a controversial speech by first lady Hillary Clinton - and greater willingness to compromise from the Vatican than had been seen at last year's Cairo conference on population.

The complete harmony between the 15 European Union nations was also remarked upon, and EU delegates themselves were particularly pleased with the way the Beijing conference went.
''The Platform reflects many of our priorities,'' said a spokesman for the EU's Social Affairs Commissioner Padraig Flynn, while another delegation member commented ''politically speaking, Europe has finally played the kind of role it should.''
For Italy, delegation chief Matelda Grassi, the labour undersecretary, welcomed the fact that the Platform ''took positive steps forward both as far as contents and the level of the debate went.''
While many delegates lamented the often quite deliberate vagueness of many areas of the texts, others were less critical. ''We must count our strategic victories, and not our tactical defeats,'' said Norway's Premier Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Conference Secretary General Gertrude Mongella of Tanzania was also upbeat in her final speech, recalling that the 12 days of discussion and debate had removed 400 sets of parentheses, placed around parts of the document which one delegation or another was unwilling to accept.
''And in a few years' time, when we only have the approved text before us, no one will remember where the parentheses were,'' commented one expert.

UN/WOMEN: VATICAN STILL HAS RESERVES ABOUT FINAL DOCUMENT

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 14 - The Vatican is maintaining a cautiously optimistic position regarding the approval of the Beijing Document and the Action Platform at the Fourth World Women's Conference, Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro Walls said Thursday.
''There are only 24 hours left and there will no doubt be consensus,'' he said. ''The problem is to see how much disagreement there will be, who expresses it, and what it is about.'' Navarro Walls said the Vatican will only say on which points it intends to withold approval when the final document is ready to go to the vote.
One of the problems, in particular with the chapter on sexual orientation, the Vatican spokesperson said, is that ''new concepts, never before approved at an international level'' were being discussed.
On the issue of abortion, Navarro Walls said that the Vatican could not approve its inclusion in the chapter on human rights. ''We cannot accept any human right that goes against another human being,'' he said.

Compared to the Cairo Conference, Navarro Walls contined, ''the discussion was more far-reaching and the decisions reached could influence the lives of thousands of women.'' He expressed disappointment, however, that the chapter on resources was not more drastic.
''It is all just rhetoric,'' he said, ''if women have no acess to education. It is vital to shift resources from the North to the South, that is from the rich to the poor,'' he concluded.

REL: POPE LEAVES ON 6-DAY AFRICAN VISIT

(ANSA) - Rome, September 14 - Pope John Paul II left Rome this morning for Yaounde, Cameroon, the first stop on a six day pastoral visit to Africa.
On this, his 67th mission abroad in 17 years, John Paul II will visit South Africa and Kenya after Cameroon. He is accompanied by Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano and assistant secretary of state for general affairs Giovanni Battista Re.
One purpose of the visit will be to conclude the special synod of African bishops held last year in the Vatican. The Pope will preside three meetings of bishops: on September 15 in Yaounde, on September 17 in Johannesburg and on September 19 in Nairobi.
On September 16 John Paul will meet S. African president Nelson Mandela. He returns to Rome on September 20 at 16.30 local.

VATICAN: POPE DEPARTS ON 11TH PASTORAL MISSION TO AFRICA

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 13 - Pope John Paul II departs Thursday morning for his eleventh trip to Africa and his 67th international pastoral mission in the 17 years of his papacy.
His destinations are Cameroon and Kenya, considered the cross-roads of French-speaking Central-West Africa and English- speaking East Africa respectively, and, for the first time officially, South Africa.
Following the special Synod for Africa held in Rome in the Spring of 1994, many dramatic problems in the continent emerged which the Pope is eager to address during his pastoral visit. Africa has the highest number of refugees in the world,
unresolved tribal and ethnic tensions, and an exceptionally high incidence of AIDS, aside from endemic poverty and famine.
Another pressing matter is the relationship of the Catholic Church with Islam, which is on the increase in the continent. The Pope aims to establish contacts with exponents of this religion in order to create a united front in dealing with the pressing concerns of peace and development.

Pope John Paul will stay two days in Cameroon. Friday, September 15 he will pronounce his Apostolic Exhortation written in Rome during the special Synod for Africa at the Yaounde Cathedral. Islamic leaders will be present, together with Catholic bishops.
The Pope will then fly to South Africa, for his first official visit to the new South African Republic. After the first democratic elections in April 1994 and the abolition of apartheid, the Pope is due to shake hands with President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria on the afternoon of Saturday, September 16.
On Sunday, Pope John Paul will celebrate two solemn rites in Johannesburg: a multilingual (including Zulu, Sethoso and Afrikaans) outdoor mass at Gosforth Park in the morning, and, in the evening, a celebration in the Catholic Cathedral of the Synod of Africa, in the presence of religious leaders from all over the continent.

Kenya is the last leg of his six-day tour. Pope John Paul visited Nairobi in 1980 and in 1985. Monday, September 18 the Pope is due to meet the head of state, Arap Moi, and the day after over 100 Bishops and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims will celebrate mass in Uhuru Park. The last session of the African Synod will follow, with Bishops from all over Africa joined by Muslim leaders and other religious exponents.
Pope John Paul II will fly back to Rome on Wednesday, September 20, arriving at 17.00.

BOSNIA: POPE SUMMONS BISHOPS FROM EX-YUGOSLAVIA TO ROME

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 13 - Pope John Paul II has summoned all the bishops of former Yugoslavia to a meeting on October 17 to study ways to bring more quickly a lasting peace to the region, he announced during his regular Wednesday general audience here.
He said the bishops are also meant to brief him on the ''legitimate needs'' of those victimized by ''this interminable war''.
Addressing those gathered in St. Peter's Square despite the rain, the pope invoked peace for that region of southeast Europe, ''and especially the martyred Bosnia and Herzegovina''. He acknowledged how hard it is to build peace on a firm and just basis and said that all this required respect for human rights, the return home of exiles and refugees, and above all, forgiveness and reconciliation.
The summit to be convened in the Vatican will be attended by the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Yugoslav Federation, Macedonia and Slovenia.

UN/WOMEN: VATICAN DENIES YIELDING ON ABORTION

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 13 - The Vatican has made no concessions whatsoever on the abortion issue at the UN Conference on Women underway in Beijing, according to Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls today.
In an encounter with the press here, Navarro Valls said he had read a headline in an Italian daily which he did not like, even though the content of the article was quite different.
''Let me make one thing perfectly clear. For us abortion remains the most abominable of evils so that our position (on this matter) has not and cannot change,'' he said.
Nor has the Church yielded on that point of the platform under discussion here in which it is stated that a woman who resorts to an illegal abortion must not be punished under the law. The problem of depenalization is not relevant for the Vatican as it is against any legalization of abortion, he stressed. ''Our position remains what it was in Cairo'', he emphasized.
The Vatican spokesman said that the Conference was now entering into its decisive stage with voting by the main committee. Meanwhile, the Holy See was said to be pleased with the results so far achieved with regard to the family, maternity and the responsibility of parents.

Asked if the Vatican was willing to recognize a family made up of homosexuals, Navarro Vals said that it was up to the legislative bodies of each nation to work its way through what he called ''the juridical ambiguities'' involved. ''With regard to homosexuals, we can only re-state that we respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'', he said.
With regard to the problem of resources, one of the issues on which consensus has still not be found among the Conference delegates, Navarro Vals said that ''this is one of the Vatican's most serious concerns and he criticized those developing countries that oppose setting up new funds.
''If we do not promote development it will not be possible to speak of women's liberation'', he stated, arguing that one of the solutions involves striking out the foreign debts of the most-impoverished nations. If every resource must be used to pay off the debt there can be no social progress, rendering useless any talk of equality and development for women, the spokesman said.

VATICAN/NAMIBIA: DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS ESTABLISHED

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 12 - The Vatican has established diplomatic relations with Namibia, officials announced Tuesday, two days before Pope John Paul II sets out on a pastoral visit to Cameroun, South Africa and Kenya.
The Holy See will send a nunzio to Namibia, which will return an ambassador to Rome, Vatican officials said.
The south-east African country which was under South African rule from 1920 to 1990 becomes the 161st to have full diplomatic relations with the Vatican. One fifth of Namibia's 1.5 million citizens are Catholics, whose pastoral care is seen to by three bishops and some 80 priests.
The papal visit which begins Thursday will be John Paul's 11th to Africa.

VATICAN/ARGENTINA: POPE MEETS VICE PRESIDENT RUCKAUF

(ANSA) - Castelgandolfo, September 12 - Argentina's Vice President Carlos Federico Ruckauf had a private audience Tuesday with Pope John Paul II in the latter's summer residence in this hill town near Rome, official sources said.
The pontiff conferred privately with Ruckauf for half and hour, after which the vice president's wife and entourage were admitted to the papal chambers.

REL: BENEDICTINE FIRST ABBOT DIES

(ANSA) - Rome, September 12 - Jerome Theisen, First Abbot of the Benedictine order since 1992, died of a heart attack here early Monday morning.
Heading an order comprising over 9,000 monks living in 250 monasteries around the world, Theisen was elected to his position in Rome three years ago, becoming the first monk ever to gain a mandate for eight years.
Theisen worked hard to improve communications between the many monasteries dotted around the world during his three years in office, carrying out a series of intercontinental journeys.
The funeral will be held on Friday, September 15 at the general headquarters of the Order founded by St Benedict of Norcia in the sixth century: the church of Saint Anselmo on Rome's Aventine Hill.

VATICAN: ALCOHOLICS, GLUTEN-ALLERGIC BARRED FROM PRIESTHOOD

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 11 - Seminarians who suffer from alcoholism or an allergy to gluten, the protein contained in cereal grains, must relinquish their ambitions of entering the Catholic priesthood, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger established in a recent letter to US bishops.
One of the jobs of a Catholic priest during Mass is to imbibe altar wine. Like other Catholics, they also regularly ingest unleavened bread made into Communion hosts. The bread and wine are believed to be the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Ratzinger told the US bishops that the Church will make exceptions for already ordained priests suffering from the two conditions.
Those suffering from gluten allergy will be able to consume low-gluten hosts, once they have presented a medical certificate describing their condition.
Recovering alcoholics will be able to replace wine with grape juice in the chalice used during the part of the Mass known as the Eucharist, provided their superiors have obtained permission from the Vatican.
Ratzinger added the proviso that in the application of these concessions, ''scandal is to be avoided.''

UN/WOMEN:AGREEMENT REACHED ON SOME CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 11 - At the beginning of the second and final week of the UN Conference on Women there is finally substantial agreement over some of the more controversial issues under debate, including education, the family, religion and abortion.
Delegations worked over the weekend to erase the many parentheses left in the draft documents, which are due to undergo ratification by the extended committee Monday. The conference is expected to close on schedule September 15, Gertrude Mongella, director general of the Conference, announced in a press conference Monday.
In last week's sessions, Vatican and European Union delegations were unable to settle their differences, while delegations from developing nations concentrated more on the problem of economic resources and development.
Crowded press conferences to announce Monday's newly found compromises were held both by Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Walls, and by Spanish Minister of Social Affairs, Cristina Alberdi Alonso.

As far as education is concerned, Alberdi Alonso pointed out, the document lays responsability on parents for sexual education and AIDS prevention. A loose interpretation of religion as any form of spirituality is accepted as playing a vital role in a woman's life, and the family is held up as a pillar of society.
The Cairo Declaration against abortion as a means of birth control is confirmed, but at the same time it is conceded that women seeking abortion, even illegally, should not be condemned. The right of doctors to deny abortion as conscientious objectors is also upheld.
The EU delegation has withdrawn its proposal concerning "sexual rights", but a chapter in the final document will establish the right of women to decide "without coercion, discrimination or violence" on their sexuality and to achieve decision-making equality in matters relating to "sex, procreation and total respect of the physical integrity of the human body."

Vatican spokesman, Navarro Walls, commented in his encounter with journalists that, though he is a gynocologist, he has never heard so much talk about sex. Other countries, in particular third world countries, he pointed out, would like to discuss different issues, above all education and poverty.
The Italian head of delegation has suffered its second change of guard in a very few days, with Matelda Grassi, Labor Undersecretary, stepping in for Education Undersecretary Ethel Porzio Serravalle. The latter had already taken over from Foreign Minister Susanna Agnelli.
A parliamentary interrogation regarding these unexpected changes was presented Monday by Christian Democratic Center (CCD) Senator La Russa.

REL: POPE CELEBRATED AT ''CATHOLIC WOODSTOCK''

(ANSA) - Loreto, September 10 - Some four hundred thousand catholic youths from all over Europe cheered Pope John Paul II here on Sunday when he returned to celebrate mass before this gathering which has been dubbed the ''catholic Woodstock'', in reference to the American rock happening in 1969.
The young people, who camped out in the open after last night's rally and concert for peace, which the pope attended, were joined today by members of older generations, including Italian Premier Lamberto Dini, to take part in the Mass and hear the pope's sermon.
Together with over a thousand priests, the pope took the stage and recalled the values of the French Revolution -freedom, brotherhood and equality- which he said must be interpreted from a christian point of view, condemning that of the Reign of Terror, and serves as the foundation for a ''great European home''.
The war in Bosnia was also a dominate theme in the pope's sermon and John Paul II pope recalled how young people were the one's who counted the most casualties in this ''useless war''.
Last night, the pope cried during a television link-up with Sarajevo in which young people there spoke of their suffering and pain.

The ideal remedy for Europe's problems, the pope said, was the construction of a ''great European home...The appeal we make today to Europe, as well as the rest of the world, can be summed up in one word: home. A key word... This is not only as great symbol, but a goal before us''.
The pope also spoke on the United Nations assembly in Beijing on women at which he said ''guidelines for great hope'' were set but which also saw ''questionable positions'' expressed.

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VATICAN: POPE TO VISIT SALVADOR AND VENEZUELA

(ANSA) - San Salvador, September 9 - Pope John Paul II will pay his second visit to Salvador on February 8, 1996 as a forerunner to a trip planned to three other Central American nations: Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costarica, and just prior to a sojourn in Venezuela on February 9-11.
John Paul was last in San Salvador in March of 1983. This latest trip will start off with a solemn eucharistic ceremony outdoors at a site still to be established, the Archbishop of San Salvador, Msgr. Fernando Saenz Lacalle announced here
The pope will also meet with Head of State Armando Calderon Sol and will tour the new cathedral. Construction on the church began in 1956 and is nearly completed.
Earlier, the Venezuelan Information Minister Fernando Egan announced that the pope would be in Venezuela on February 9-11 next year. It will be the pope's second visit to that South American country, after a 1985 visit.
The pope is expected to visit Caracas and Guanare to the southwest, where he will bless a shrine to Venezuela's patron, the Madonna of Coromoto.
The two announcements raised expectations of a more extensive papal tour through the region where the only country John Paul has not yet been to is Cuba, although Latin American ecclesiastical sources today stressed that the archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, was working on this.

UN/WOMEN: VATICAN THREAT TO WITHHOLD AGREEMENT ON PLATFORM

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 9 - The Vatican indirectly threatened to withhold agreement on the Action Platform under debate at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women here in a press release in which the Holy See said that ''after five days of negotiations'' a minority coalition ''is vigorously blocking'' efforts to reach a compromise on the final document.
The Vatican did not identify the members of this ''minority coalition'' but pointed a finger to accuse the ''the European Union of being a prominent figure in this group which wants to prevent agreement.'
The statement went on to reiterate Holy See criticism levelled against European delegates who, according to the Vatican, are bent on cancelling or introducing features touching on marriage, the family, education and religion in ways considered by the Vatican in contrast with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Named in this connection were: an intention to remove from the platform all reference to human dignity and the parents' role in educating their children and opposition to the use of the term 'family'. In negotiations on the platform, the plural 'families' was suggested but the Holy See branded this term ambiguous. Also cited was a drive to remove the word 'religion' except from contexts in which religion has a negative connotation, as associated with intolerance or extremism, and moves to suppress the word 'mother'
Talking to reporters, Vatican spokesman Joachin Navarro Walls said, ''A situation has been created for which we feel it is useful to inform public opinion. It is evident that a step back has been taken from the Cairo conference,'' he added with reference to the UN Conference on Population and Development, and described the present situation as ''alarming.''
Asked if the Vatican was considering abandoning the Beijing conference, Navarro Walls said, ''Our goal is to make every effort up to the last minute of the conference to achieve positive results. Negotiations are open.''

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VATICAN: POPE TO VISIT VENEZUELA

(ANSA) - Caracas, September 8 - Pope John Paul II will visit Venezuela on February 9-11 next year, Venezuelan Information Minister Fernando Egana announced.
Egana said he had received confirmation of the visit from Apostolic Nuncio Oriano Quilici.
It will be the pope's second visit to the South American country, after a 1985 visit.
The pope is expected to visit Caracas and Guanare to the southwest, where he will bless a shrine to Venezuela's patron, the Madonna of Coromoto.

VATICAN: NEW NUNCIO TO GAMBIA, GUINEA AND LIBERIA

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 8 - Pope John Paul II today named Msgr. Antonio Lucibello as the new papal nuncio to Gambia, Guinea and Liberia, raising him to the relevant bishopric of Thurio.
Msgr. Lucibello thus also becomes the apostolic delegate to Sierra Leone.
Msgr. Lucibello was born near the Calabrian city of Cosenza on February 25, 1942. He was ordained on July 23, 1967, and later became a bishop in Calabria.
A graduate in canon law, he entered the Vatican's diplomatic service in 1973 and has had various postings, in Panama, Ethiopia, Argentina, Zaire, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Ireland.

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VATICAN:'WAR ON WAR', POPE EXHORTS WORLD MILITARY SPORTSMEN

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 7 - The ''just and due war is to make war on wars,'' Pope John Paul II told an audience of some 4,000 uniformed men and women taking part in the first edition of the World Military Games, in and around Rome until September 15.
The pope compared the military athletes from rival countries ready to do sporting battle with ''those other men, not far from us, driven only by hatred and revenge, who are not confronting one another on the sporting field but amid the ruins of their destroyed cities.''
''Their hands do not raise sporting trophies, but still brandish weapons dripping with blood,'' said the pontiff.
Among the athletes and others waiting for the pope's blessing were defence ministers from various countries, including Italy's Domenico Corcione, dozens of generals, and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch.
The pope told the assembled ranks pressed into the Paul VI auditorium that ''the soldier is not, and must not be, a man of war, but someone who, while engaged in the defence of his country, knows how to be a man who seeks above all else cooperation between peoples and works to foster friendly and peaceful relations between nations.''

John Paul II condemned the ''barbarous and inhuman criterion of recourse to war as a means of settling disputes,'' and called on all soldiers to ''feel in his soul like a soldier of peace.''
Recalling his message marking the anniversary of the end of World War Two, the pope reiterated the need to ''reject obtuse and violent ideologies'' and ''all forms of extreme nationalism and intolerance.''
As Minister Corcione and IOC President Samaranch recalled in their speeches, the first World Military Games were set up to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. More than 100 countries have sent delegations to the Games, including China.
''The Games will see competing athletes and teams from countries that are divided by age-old or more recent conflicts, or even bloody wars which are still wreaking death and destruction,'' the pope said.
''Your singular sporting event becomes an occasion for renewing, with a more determined and forceful voice, a common appeal for peace,'' he said.

''What a contrast,'' he went on to remark, ''between the painful spectacle of violence and death that is offered to us daily by the mass media, scenes to which our dismayed eyes will never grow accustomed, and the comforting, promise-laden spectacle which you offered yesterday at the inaugural ceremony.''
''You have left behind you political and ideological barriers, which for decades have divided the world into opposed blocs, and you are preparing for a serene, lively and promising sporting competition,'' he said.

EU/WOMEN: VATICAN IRE DIRECTED AT THREE EU INITIATIVES

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 7 - The Vatican's ire was directed today against three initiatives taken by the European Union via Spain which as duty president of the EU heads the delegation to the UN Women's Conference underway here.
The three initiatives taken by Spanish representatives on various committees were: the position (on the health committee) that there is no place for ethics in medicine; the proposal to take conscientious objection off the debate agenda; and a call for the reintroduction of the term ''sexual rights'', struck out at the Cairo Conference.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls said today that the statement regarding ethics and medicine was ''disconcerting'' to say the least, and he wondered if the representatives of other nations such as France, Italy and Germany could possibly be in agreement with it.
He also blamed Europe for slowing down discussions at the conference. ''Too often Spain has called for a suspension of discussions so as to consult the others,'' Navarro Valls complained.

The Vatican is also opposed to taking conscientious objection off the agenda, recalling that it was accepted as a topic for debate at the conferences in Cairo and Copenhagen and that it has been included in the legislation of many European countries.
The Holy See is also against the term ''sexual rights'' as it considers it ''an ambiguous concept'' that should be defined before being introduced into any conference document here.
The Vatican said that it had already been agreed not to present new rights into discussions in Beijing and that it was for that reason that debate was centered on an action platform, indicating a desire to move from words to deeds.
''We consider the European Union stance a violation of the Cairo and Copenhagen accords. ''In fact they want to remove any reference to religion, one of the recognized rights,'' the Vatican spokesman said.
The Vatican is waiting to learn what the individual nations within the EU have to say on these issues, however. Navarro Vals said he hoped that common sense would prevail.
Meanwhile, the head of the Italian delegation, education undersecretary Ethel Dreda Porzio, said that no conflict had opened up between Italy and the Vatican with regard to certain issues being debated at the conference.

REL: FRESCO ATTESTS TO TRANSLATION OF HOLY SHROUD

(ANSA) - Nole (Turin), September 7 - A wall fresco which depicts the very same image found on the Holy Shroud of Turin - a relic revered by Catholics for centuries as the cloth that enveloped body of the crucified Christ during the three days it lay in the tomb - has been discovered under plaster during restoration of a small Medieval church of San Grato in the town of Nole, not far from Turin.
The image on the church wall corresponds in every detail with the imprint of the face and body of an apparently crucified man as seen on the sacred relic and would seem to offer proof of the translation through this region of the Holy Shroud from Chambery to Turin in 1578 by Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy at the bidding of San Carlo Borromeo.
The Piedmont region began the restoration of the church under the supervision of Giovanni Carlo Rocca who last year brought to light a huge 16th century fresco depicting the Resurrection which had been hidden under plaster. This spurred restorers to look for further frescos and led them eventually to the discovery of the Holy Shroud image.

According to earliest tradition, the winding cloth appeared in Turin in 1087, donated by Heraclio, Patriarch of Jerusalem to the King of Cyprus and brought to Savoy in 1430 by Marguerite di Charny.
According to a later tradition, the King of Cyprus donated the relic in 1353 to Geoffrey, viceroy of Picardy who put it in the custody of the canons of Lirey (France) from whence it came into the possession of Count Humbert of Villar-Sexel whose widow was Marguerite di Charny. This version has it that the cloth came into the hands of the House of Savoy in 1452. That it was brought to Turin in 1578 by Emanuele Filiberto is further attested to by the fresco discovered in Nole.
In 1987 and 1988 samples of the shroud were given to international research institutes so they could carry out independent carbon 14 tests in an attempt to date the relic.
The results of these analyses indicated that the cloth dates from the medieval period. However, the church hierarchy has been cautious in its reaction, with one cardinal stating that science should be left to do its work while ''for us'' the shroud remains the icon of Christ's passion.

This position has been several times reiterated by the current archbishop of Turin, Giovanni Saldarini, custodian of the shroud which is kept in a special seventeenth-century chapel built between the city's cathedral and the Royal Palace.
And, indeed, despite the pronouncements of science, the shroud is still an object of veneration.
Cardinal Saldarini announced only this week that the cloth will be put on public display in 1998 and again in 2000.
The year 1998, is of special importance for the Holy Shroud. It falls on the 500th anniversary of the consecration of the Turin cathedral which houses the relic. Furthermore it will mark the first centenary of the 1898 showing of the shroud when the first ever photograph was taken of the cloth which mysteriously bears the imprint of a man who appears to have been crucified. That photo and, above all, the negative of the photograph, helped launch the first scientific investigations of the image on the shroud.

The shroud will once again be on display for the Holy Year so that the flood of pilgrims headed to Italy for the Jubilee will be able to venerate a relic that remains ''a historic prodigy'', inexplicable, ''an icon of the Transcendent'', Cardinal Saldarini said.
He noted that no scientific explanation has been made as to how the image appeared on the cloth; an image that corresponds to the bloodstained face and body of a crucified man with wounds like those described by the Gospels.
The last time the Holy Shroud was put on public display in Turin was in September of 1978 when over three million pilgrims came to venerate it.

UN/WOMEN: VATICAN AGAINST LARGE PART OF BEIJING DOCUMENT

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 6 - The Vatican is not in agreement with a large part of the document under debate in Beijing at the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women and even claims that the proposed platform contains elements which are in contradition with the UN's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to Mary Ann Glendon, the first women to head a top level delegation from the Holy See.
At a press conference here today Glendon took a fairly prudent stand on the most controversial topics on the conference agenda, stating that debate has just got off the ground here within the various committees. However, she announced that the Holy See would do battle to make certain that the so-called ''ecological plan'', or natural method of birth control, would be included in the chapter listing various methods of contraception. She also denied that any pact had been struck with the Islamic states, stating that with regard to the role of women ''our positions are irreconcilable''.

With regard to protests raised by certain groups here to the effect that the Vatican had no business taking part in this conference, Glendon recalled that the Holy See has long maintained diplomatic relations with over 100 countries. The matter should have been brought up several centuries ago, quipped Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls, who also attended today's press conference.
(The protesting groups claim that the Vatican uses its status as permanent observer to hold up progress on women's emancipation supported by the vast majority of UN nations).
Glendon insisted that at the present Conference the Vatican has ''very special obligations'' that it wants to uphold in a concrete form so as to achieve the Conference objectives of equality, development and peace.
With regard to a new proposal on sexual orientation included in the document and whether the Vatican was willing to accept any recognition of homosexuality, Glendon would only say that the Holy See wholly defends the Universal Declaration on the rights and dignity of mankind and that this includes homosexuals.

As to the matter of ''sexual orientation,'' Navarro Valls had already dismissed it yesterday, saying that the proposal had no future because it was opposed by the Third World countries.
The conference today began the discussion on birth control and the Vatican reiterated its position that the number of children and their timing was solely up to the parents.
Glendon concluded her remarks stressing the need to guarantee women equal dignity with respect to men and recalled the pontiff's call to the 300,000 Catholic organizations in existence today to open their doors to women.
Navarro Valls said here yesterday he was optimistic about reaching an understanding on a final declaration despite the fact that the Vatican is in disagreement on 50 percent of the draft, compared to 25 percent dissent on the statement issued in Cairo, at the UN Conference on Population and Development. He lamented the fact that issues set aside in Cairo and Copenhagen, at the UN Summit on Social Development in March, had been returned to the agenda for Beijing.

The Vatican delegation also let it be known that it appreciated the speech Hillary Clinton delivered to the Conference yesterday but said that it now hoped that certain ideas expressed by America's First Lady would be taken up and pushed forwared by the U.S. delegation here.
Navarro Valls told Ansa today that certain of the themes touched upon by the wife of U.S. President Bill Clinton were not, in fact, present in the document under discussion. As examples, he cited matters regarding maternity and the defense of the family.

BOSNIA: OSSERVATORE ROMANO ON 'AMBIGUITIES' HAMPERING PEACE

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 6 - Western Firmness And The Ambiguities That Tend To Hamper Peace was the title of today's leading article in Vatican daily l'Osservatore Romano, the latest in a string of editorials on the Bosnian crisis.
''The risk that the voice of arms will end up stifling that of diplomacy remains high, and there still appears to be a possibility of a stiffening of positions that could produce a new, bloodier and wider resumption of the war, exacerbated by the bad weather that is now threatening,'' the leader-writer wrote.
''Not only among the protagonists of the Bosnian tragedy and in former Yugoslavia in general, but also among the international community at large, there in fact persist diversities of assessment and even ambiguities that tend to hamper, if not block, the path of peace,'' he said.

UN/VATICAN: POPE'S US VISIT IN OCTOBER; OFFICIAL PROGRAM

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 6 - Pope John Paul II will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on the morning of October 5th, on day two of his five-day pastoral visit to the United States which will last from October 4-9.
John Paul's speech comes exactly thirty years after the first papal address ever to a General Assembly meeting (it was Pope Paul VI who delivered that address on October 4, 1965).
The present pope has once before addressed the United Nations, on October 3, 1979 at the start of his first pastoral visit to the United States.
His latest trip to the New World comes two weeks after his imminent visit (September 14-20) to three African countries: Cameroon, South Africa and Kenya.
His official U.S. itinerary will take him to Newark, New Jersey; to New York city; and to Baltimore, Maryland.
It is in Newark that he will meet with U.S. President Bill Clinton on day one of his visit.
The following day, he will be received in New York by UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and at 1050 the same morning he is to address the UN General Assembly.
The pope will return to Newark that afternoon where he will hold a mass in the East Rutherford stadium.

On Friday, October 6, he will celebrate mass at the racetrack in Queens.
On Saturday, October 7, he will become the first pope ever to say mass on the Great Lawn of Central Park in New York. That afternoon he will recite the rosary at St. Patrick's cathedral on Fifth Avenue. Saturday night he will meet with leaders of the Jewish community in the city at the residence of the Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor.
On Sunday, October 8, the pope will go to Baltimore to say mass at the baseball stadium at Camden yards; in the afternoon he will visit the Church of the Assumption and will pray in the Mary, Queen of Heaven Cathedral.
Travelling by helicopter, he will proceed to the international Baltimore-Washington airport for a private talk with U.S. Vice-President Al Gore. After a farewell ceremony, he will board a plane for Rome where he is due back Monday morning (0930 local time), October 9.

BOSNIA: OSSERVATORE ROMANO URGES END OF SIEGE

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 5 - The Vatican warned today that the countries and international organisations involved should remember the approaching Balkan winter as a factor for breaking the sieges against Bosnian cities and trying to hurry along the search for peace.
''The margins of time available are getting narrower,'' the Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, warned, ''and the approach of the bad weather is already threatening to add the devastating effects of a new winter of war to the sufferings of those exhausted peoples.''
Writing in an article published at about the same time as the resumption of NATO bombing, the Osservatore said the various governments, the international community and the European Union have the duty to ''dissolve this nightmare and break the siege that has too long racked these unfortunate people and lacerated man's civilisation itself.''
The newspaper also said reports of what it described as ''contradictory attitudes'' from Sarajevo and the other besieged Bosnian cities cast a ''strong disquiet'' on hopes of speeding up the peace process before there is a ''tragic return'' to arms.

VATICAN: POPE CALLS FOR RESPECT FOR IMMIGRANTS

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 5 - In responding to the world problem of migration, there is no room for short cuts which limit the ''inalienable rights'' of immigrants or deny them their dignity as human beings, said Pope John Paul II in his message for world migrant day, made public here today.
While recognizing that the problem of migration had reached the scale of a ''social emergency,'' the pope was alarmed at governments who responded with ''more severe legislation and tighter control of the frontiers,'' often limiting the rights of immigrants in the process.
Illegal immigration is a serious problem, but the pope said there was an even more pressing need to make every effort to ''combat the criminal organizations which profit from illegal emigration.''
Rather than a crack-down, the pope said ''the most appropriate policy, destined to bring substantial, long-lasting results'' was ''international co-operation in order to promote political stability and eliminate underdevelopment.''
Calling on the churches to become more actively involved the pope warned that the delicacy of the problem should not be used as an excuse to sweep the problems under the carpet.

Criticizing the resultant ''reticence and elusiveness'', he called on the churches to ''stimulate reflection, give directions, and provide information to help pastoral and social workers.''
The churches' role is particularly important where ''understanding of the problem is conditioned by prejudices and xenophobia. Here the Church must not fail to make its fraternal voice heard, accompanied by acts which affirm the primacy of charity.''
He also said Christian communities were often contaminated by public opinion which is sometimes hostile to immigrants. The pope spoke out against restrictions which divide
families or force people to go underground. ''No law can deny the right of family to live together,'' he said. He also called for the enactment of legislation and constant vigilance against racism and the use of immigrants as ''scapegoats for difficult local situations.''

UN/WOMEN: VATICAN AGREEMENT AND DISSENT ON DRAFT STATEMENT

(ANSA) - Beijing, September 5 - The Vatican delegation in Beijing for the United Nations Conference on Women hopes that these proceedings will go down in history as ''an important time of progress for freedom and the dignity of women,'' said the head of the delegation as the Vatican spokesman said he was confident of finding agreement on a final declaration.
Addressing today's plenary session of the conference, delegation chief Mary Ann Glendon opened her statement by recalling the pope's interest in the conference and his recent letter addressed to women in which he ''recognized the shortcomings of past positions, including those of the Catholic Church.''
Holy See spokesman Joaquin Navarro Walls, talking to reporters, said he was optimistic about reaching an understanding on a final declaration despite the fact that the Vatican is in disagreement on 50 percent of the draft, compared to 25 percent dissent on the statement issued in Cairo, at the UN Conference on Population and Development.

Navarro Walls was critical of the fact that issues set aside in Cairo and Copenhagen, at the UN Summit on Social Development in March, had been returned to the agenda for Beijing. Speaking of abortion as a means of birth control and leaving parents out of a girl's decision to interrupt pregnancy, the spokesman said, ''I wonder how this is possible at the distance of a few months.''
He went on to say, however, that ''Convergence and differences are normal because here, the themes are much broader and more varied compared to Cairo. For example, I judge as positive some parts of the statement made yesterday by Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto whereas I agreed less with the speech (she) made in Cairo.''
The Vatican is in agreement on ''women's economic progress and reference made to the role of the woman in the family'' but, he added, on other points, the Islamic and Christian positions are far apart and an understanding looks impossible.
Navarro Walls said the Vatican is opposed to adding the issue of ''sexual orientation'' to the final document because it is ''legally ambiguous and would force on reform of legislation in many countries. And I wonder whether pedophilia would be excluded or included.''

He continued by saying, ''If we talk about abortion, we are not in agreement. But if we refer to safeguarding the woman during pregnancy then our agreement is total.'' Navarro Walls was also critical of the fact that in the draft of the final document, ''in 120 pages, the word 'family' is cited only four times and the word 'mother' is even put between parentheses.''
On another point, the spokesman said that on the use of language in the document, there must be full agreement on the wording of women's human rights. ''Otherwise each state could claim its own parameters and escape all possibility of challenge.''
Navarro Walls said members of the Vatican delegation will travel to Nuairou where, at the Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations, the Holy See has been accused of attempting to remove the gains achieved by women to ''return them to the cookstove.'' ''We are here willing to meet and talk to everyone. We're here with a precise commitment, to seek consensus,'' he added.
The delegation does not, however, intend to meet Chinese Catholics, either those of the Patriotic Church or of the 'Church of Silence', those loyal to the Holy See, said the spokesman.

Talking to the Italian news agency Ansa, Navarro Walls said, ''We have received no request but, if the Chinese Catholics want to meet us, we will be happy to embrace them. Moreover, we are here only to take part in the conference.''
In her speech to the assembly, the head of the delegation took pains to express ''special thanks and appreciation'' to the Beijing government and to extend ''the pope's cordial and respectful greetings.''
Glendon, the first woman at the head of a Vatican delegation, also delivered thanks for ''the warm welcome we received by the Chinese authorities and people here in Beijing'' and for their organization of the gathering and efforts ''to make this world conference a memorable experience.''

VATICAN: SILVER-COIN DIPTYCHS TO LEAD UP TO HOLY YEAR 2000

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 5 - Two silver coins, each having a face value of 10,000 lire (six dollars) will be issued by the Vatican on September 30, the first in a series leading up to the year 2000. (It will be the first time that the Vatican has struck coins with such a high face value).
One of the two coins will depict the Annunciation; the other the Nativity - scenes created by sculptor Enrico Manfrini. Each coin bears the words: ''Verso L'Anno Santo 2000 (Towards the Holy Year 2000)''.
A recent portrait of Pope John Paul II will appear on the obverse side of both coins which must be purchased together in a case, forming a diptych, for the sum of 118,000 lire (73 dollars).
The Italian Mint is striking 30,000 each of these first two silver coins in the series.
A second diptych of silver coins (again having a face value of 10,000 lire each) will be issued in 1996 with the same words and with the images of Christ being baptized and Christ as a teacher.
Each subsequent year leading up to Holy Year 2000 will see another such diptych made available to coin collecters.

REL: HOLY SHROUD ON DISPLAY IN 1998 AND AGAIN IN 2000

(ANSA) - Turin, September 5 - The Holy Shroud, the winding cloth that wrapped the body of the crucified Christ according to centuries-long Catholic tradition, will be put on public display in 1998 and again in the year 2000, it was announced today in Turin where the relic is kept in its own special chapel in the city cathedral.
In 1998 the cloth will be on view from April 18 to May 31. In 2000, the coming Jubilee Year, the sacred relic will be shown from April 29 to June 11. The announcement was made by the custodian of the Holy Shroud, Cardinal Giovanni Saldarini, the Archbishop of Turin.
The cardinal told a press conference here that some months ago he had written to the pope to suggest putting the much- venerated-relic on public display in preparation for the Holy Year, and he suggested two dates - 1998 and 2000. The pope welcomed the idea and asked him to organize public showings for both years.

The year 1998, in fact is of special importance for the Holy Shroud. It falls on the 500th anniversary of the consecration of the Turin cathedral which houses the relic. Furthermore it will mark the first centenary of the 1898 showing of the shroud when the first ever photograph was taken of the cloth which mysteriously bears the imprint of a man who appears to have been crucified. That photo and, above all, the negative of the photograph, helped launch the first scientific investigations of the image on the shroud.
Cardinal Saldarini took the occasion of today's press conference to speak out in his official capacity as custodian of the shroud to deny press reports to the effect that new experiments were currently being made on bits of the cloth. In particular, there had been conflicting reports that female Dna had been found on the threads, or that the effigy could be that of Leonardo Da Vinci as part of experiments he conducted into rudimentary photography.
The Turin archbishop stressed that no new samples of the cloth have been given out since April 21, 1988 when a piece of the shroud was shared out to three international research institutes so they could carry out independent carbon 14 tests in an attempt to date the cloth. (The results of these analyses was that the cloth dates from the medieval period).
Cardinal Saldarini today said that no residual material was known to be in the hands of any third parties, but that if there should be any such, it represented unauthorized possession and the material must be returned to the proper church authorities.
The custodian of the Holy Shroud asked researchers, ''in an atmosphere of mutual confidence'' between church officialdom and the scientific world, to be patient until a future program of research was set up.
Meanwhile, in connection with the 1998 exhibition ''an important international congress'' would be organized by Turin's International Center for Holy Shroud Studies which would also focus on the best way to preserve the sacred relic, he said, noting that scientists have warned this is an urgent matter if the cloth is not to deteriorate ''irremediably''.

It may be that the relic will have to be preserved in a different format or venue, but there is no reason to think that it will have to be removed from Turin as some press reports claimed, the cardinal added. (The relic is kept in a silver casket inside an iron box enclosed in a marble case).
The shroud will once again be on display for the Holy Year so that the flood of pilgrims headed to Italy for the Jubilee will be able to venerate a relic that remains ''a historic prodigy'', inexplicable, ''an icon of the Transcendent'', Cardinal Saldarini said.
He noted that no scientific explanation has been made as to how the image appeared on the cloth; an image that corresponds to the bloodstained face and body of a crucified man with wounds like those described by the Gospels.
The last time the Holy Shroud was put on public display in Turin was in September of 1978 when over three million pilgrims came to venerate it.
The city of Turin and its provincial government, along with the regional government of Piedmont, have all indicated their enthusiasm for the project and will soon begin the necessary organizational work.

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REL: VATICAN CLARIFIES PAPAL SPEECH... FIRST ADD

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 4 - The pope's Sunday sermon on greater involvement of women in Church affairs contained ''nothing new'', but merely described a pre-existing situation, according to Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe.
Sepe, who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy, told Ansa that the speech ''contained a list, a synthesis of what has been going on in the Church for decades, from involvement in running parishes and curias, to participation in ecclesiastical courts.''
Some commentators interpreted the sermon as a move by Pope John Paul II towards acceptance of the concept of admitting women into the priesthood.
''Not everyone knows, unfortunately, that things are like this, and that the pope was merely reminding us, so that everyone was aware of it,'' Sepe said.
The only novelty, he added, was ''that this is the first time that a detailed list has been given of the areas where women can work, as laid down in canon law. And I am sure that the great majority of the clergy will greet this with joy, because they can see the enormous advantages which female support will bring to all priestly activity.''

The archbishop went on to explain that women can be made responsible for administering a parish, for catechism and pastoral care, in particular that of the sick to whom they can administer the consecrated host. He said much of the Church's work with the poor is today carried out by women.
''And there is all the apostolic work they can do in the family field,'' Sepe continued. ''Women have a special gift in this area, helping newlyweds and couples in crisis.''
Sepe said that women's role stopped short of ordination, however, and added that only in exceptional cases could bishops give authorisation for a woman to do gospel readings during mass, or to deliver sermons.
If the priesthood proper remains beyond women's grasp, a decisional place within the Church is already a reality, according to Sepe who pointed out that in some synods and pastoral councils, fifty percent of participants are nuns and lay Catholic women.