AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 19, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Wilhelm Hans-Theodor Wallau, the new ambassador to the Holy See of the Federal Republic of Germany, who presented his Letters of Credence.

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DECLARATION REGARDING STATEMENT BY CARDINAL DANNEELS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 19, 2000 (VIS) - Answering journalists' questions regarding an interview by Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, concerning the possible resignation of the Holy Father John Paul II at the end of the Jubilee, Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls released the following statement: "This is Cardinal Danneels' personal opinion and has no bearing on reality."

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SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA CELEBRATES JUBILEE

VATICAN CITY, OCT 19, 2000 (VIS) - This morning in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope John Paul welcomed several thousand Knights and Dames of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Prior to this audience Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state, presided at a concelebrated Mass in the basilica at the Altar of the Chair of Peter.

The Knights, Dames, members of the Order's ambulance corps and national and international structures from all continents have been in Rome since October 16 on pilgrimage and to celebrate their Jubilee. Groups of Knights, many of whom are doctors, serve as volunteers in the first aid stations of Rome's major basilicas.

In his talk to them, the Holy Father recalled the special nature of the Jubilee Year, calling it "a year of grace, a year of remission of sins and the punishment for sins," a year of reconciliation, conversion, sacramental penance and "a year linked 'to the granting of indulgences in a broader way than in other times'." He added that, "in the Bull of Indiction, I wrote: 'A sign of God's mercy, especially necessary today, is that of charity, which opens our eyes to the needs of those who live in poverty and on the margins of society."

He then pointed to the "praiseworthy initiatives which your Order carries out in diverse contexts of moral and spiritual destitution. ... These are initiatives which constitute a valid encouragement and almost a model for all who desire to contribute with their efforts to creating a new world, capable of giving back dignity and hope to those who are oppressed by modern forms of slavery and wounded in body and spirit."

"I refer in a special way," added the Pope, "to the prophetic service in favor of the marginalized and excluded, which you fulfill with the ardor of an authentic campaign for the integral promotion of the human being." He remarked that "this campaign to defend and value man" is a "centuries-old mission of your Order, ... a true strategy of love as seen in your commitments to hospitals, leprosariums, first aid stations, schools for children and rest homes for the elderly."

"May the Jubilee," John Paul II concluded, "stimulate you to be, in the contexts within which you work, incessant witnesses of authentic fraternal communion. May each of you have a more intense enthusiasm to bear witness to the Gospel of charity in a world dominated by egoism and sin."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 19, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the territorial prelature of Tefe, Brazil, presented by Bishop Mario Clemente Neto C.S.Sp., in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. Bishop Neto is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Sergio Eduardo Castriani C.S.Sp.

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CARDINAL TOMKO OPENS MISSIOLOGICAL CONGRESS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 18, 2000 (VIS) - Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, gave the inaugural address yesterday afternoon at the International Missiological Congress at the Pontifical Urban University. Participants are meeting through October 20 on the theme "Who do you say that I am?"

Welcoming theologians and experts "who have come to offer their contribution and their experience of other religions," he began by referring to the question Jesus asked His disciples: "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" The cardinal observed that this question "implies an important suggestion: the answer of Christian faith must also take into consideration the search of those who do not share it. This was already the position of the Council when it invited the Church not to refuse what was true and holy in other religions."

Cardinal Tomko stated that, from the Council on, the Church has taught "that dialogue with other religions is part of the evangelizing mission of the Church."

The cardinal said that when Peter, asked by Jesus Who He was, "confessed his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus answered that this had been revealed by His "'Father Who is in heaven'. Here we have another important suggestion: this profession of faith is the work of grace."

Cardinal Tomko then underlined that, "while it encourages us to deepen this theme, 'since it is certainly useful for understanding better God's salvific plan and the ways in which it is accomplished', the recent document 'Dominus Iesus' warns against 'considering the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by other religions, seen as complementary to the Church, or substantially equivalent to her, even if these are said to be converging with the Church towards the eschatological kingdom of God. This warning does not place limits on God's salvific action but asks that it be considered globally."

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