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Skriven 2005-04-03 12:57:45 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45.0)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Special Edition
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Hello All.

                         VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
                            HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE
                            V.I.S.    VIS internet

      04.03.2005 
           Fifteenth Year  - N.62  
       
      SUMMARY:

      - POPE'S MESSAGE REMAINS ENGRAVED IN PEOPLES HEARTS
      - DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY SHOWS GOD'S LOVE FOR MANKIND
      - PROCEDURES UNDERWAY IN THE VATICAN UPON POPE'S DEATH
      - DECLARATION ON DETENTION OF CATHOLIC CLERGY IN CHINA

      ___________________________________________________________

      POPE'S MESSAGE REMAINS ENGRAVED IN PEOPLES HEARTS

      VATICAN CITY, APR 3, 2005 (VIS) - At 10.30 today, Divine Mercy
Sunday, before hundreds of thousands of people who filled St Peter's
Square, Via della Conciliazione and adjacent streets, Cardinal
Angelo Sodano presided at a Eucharistic concelebration for the
repose of the soul of John Paul II, who died yesterday evening at
9.37.

        In his homily, Cardinal Sodano spoke of the pain over the
loss of "our father and pastor, John Paul II," but emphasized that
for 26 years he had "always called us to look to Christ, the only
reason for our hope."

        "For more than a quarter of a century he has taken the
Gospel of Christian hope to all the squares of the world, teaching
everyone that our death is nothing more than a passage to our 
homeland in heaven. There our eternal destiny lies, where God our
Father awaits us."

        The cardinal indicated how "this is our faith, this is the
faith of Christians. Our pain is immediately transformed into an
attitude of profound serenity. I too was a witness to such serenity,
standing in prayer before the Holy Father's bed in his final
moments, the serenity of the saints, the serenity that comes from
God."

        "As today we weep for the death of the Pope who has left us,
we open our hearts to the vision of our eternal destiny. ... We know
that, though we are sinners, we are accompanied by the mercy of God
the Father who awaits us. This is the sense of today's Feast of
Divine Mercy, established by the dear departed Pope John Paul II
himself, as one of the legacies of his pontificate, to underline
this most consoling aspect of the Christian mystery."

        "This Sunday, it would be moving to re-read one of the most
beautiful Encyclicals, 'Dives in misericordia', written in 1980, the
third year of his pontificate." In that document, said the cardinal,
John Paul II "invites us to look to the Father Who is 'merciful and
is God of all comfort, who consoles us in all our afflictions'," and
to "Mary, Mother of Mercy."

        Cardinal Sodano highlighted the many times the Pope has
repeated over the years "that mutual relations between men and
between peoples cannot be based only on justice, but must be 
perfected by merciful love which is typical of the Christian
message. For this reason John Paul II led the Church of the third
Christian millennium to be a new Good Samaritan on the paths of the 
world, on the roads of a world still shaken by fratricidal wars. In
this way, the Pope became the cantor of the civilization of love,
seeing in that term one of the most beautiful definitions of 
'Christian civilization.' Yes, Christian civilization is the
civilization of love, radically different from those civilizations
of hatred which, in the 20th century, were the consequence of so 
many ideologies."

        May the Pope, "from heaven, watch over us always and help us
to 'cross that threshold of hope' about which he spoke to us so
much. May this his message always remain engraved in the hearts of
the men and women of today. John Paul II repeats once more the words
of Christ: 'the Son of Man came into the world, not to condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through Him'."

        Cardinal Sodano recalled that John Paul II "spread this
Gospel of hope in the world, calling all the Church to embrace the
men and women of today, to raise them up with redeeming love. Let it
be our task to take up the message of he who has left us and bring
it to fruit for the salvation of the world."

        "And to our unforgettable Father
," he concluded, "we say
with the words of the liturgy: 'May the angels lead you to Paradise!
In Paradisum deducant te Angeli!' May a joyous chorus welcome you
and lead you to the Holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem, that you may
find eternal rest. Amen!" .../MASS REPOSE SOUL POPE/SODANO VIS
050403 (690)

      DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY SHOWS GOD'S LOVE FOR MANKIND

      VATICAN CITY, APR 3, 2005 (VIS) - At the end of the Mass this
morning in St. Peter's Square for the repose of the soul of Pope
John Paul II, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the 
substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri,
before reciting the Easter time prayer, the Regina Coeli, read a
text that the Holy Father had previously prepared for the occasion 
of the solemnity of Divine Mercy which is celebrated on the Second
Sunday of Easter.

        In that text, John Paul II highlighted today's celebration
of Divine Mercy Sunday, underlining the Gospel story where the Risen
Christ appeared to the Apostles "'and showed them His hands and His
side', that is, the signs of the painful passion impressed in an
indelible way on His body even after the Resurrection. Those
glorious wounds, that He made an incredulous Thomas touch eight days
later, reveal God's mercy Who 'so loved the world that he gave His
only begotten Son'."

        "To all of mankind," continued the text, "who so often seems
lost and dominated by the power of evil, egoism and fear, the Risen
Lord offers as a gift His love which pardons, reconciles and opens
the soul again to hope. It is a love that converts hearts and gives
peace. How the world needs to understand and welcome Divine Mercy!

        "Lord, Who with Your death and Resurrection revealed the
Father's love, we believe in You and with trust we repeat today:
Jesus, I trust in You, have mercy on us and on the entire world."

        "May the liturgical solemnity of the Annunciation, which we
will celebrate tomorrow," the Holy Father's reflections concluded,
"encourage us to contemplate with the eyes of Mary the immense 
mystery of this merciful love that bursts forth from the heart of
Christ." ANG/DIVINE MERCY/SANDRI     VIS 050403 (280)

      PROCEDURES UNDERWAY IN THE VATICAN UPON POPE'S DEATH

      VATICAN CITY, APR 3, 2005 (VIS) - This morning Holy See Press
Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls released the following
statement to journalists:

        "The procedures foreseen by the Apostolic Constitution
"Universi Dominici gregis" by John Paul II on the occasion of the
death of a Supreme Pontiff, are underway in the Vatican.

        "Ascertainment of Death. This morning at 9.30, the rite of
ascertainment of the death of John Paul II (Universi Dominici
gregis, 17) took place. Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, Cardinal 
Camerlengo and Archbishop Paolo Sardi, vice Camerlengo, Archbishop
Piero Marini, master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, and the
Cleric Prelates of the Apostolic Camera went into the apartment of 
the deceased pontiff with Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, the Pope's personal
physician, to proceed with the ascertainment of death, according to
the rite of  "Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontifici."

        "The Chancellor Secretary of the Apostolic Camera, Enrico
Serafini, then prepared the official death certificate, attached to
the medical certificate of Dr. Renato Buzzonetti.

        "Exposition of the Body in the Apostolic Palace. At 12:30
the Cardinal Camerlengo will preside at a celebration to start the
visits to the body of John Paul laid out in the Clementine Hall for
the homage and prayers of members of the Roman Curia, civil and
religious authorities and members of the Diplomatic Corps. Visits
will end at 4 p.m.

        "Transfer of the body to the Vatican Basilica for homage by
all the faithful. The hour of the transfer of the body will be
decided by the first congregation of Cardinals which will be held 
tomorrow morning at 10:30 in the Bologna Hall. As previously
announced, it is expected that the transfer will take place about 5
p.m." OP/PROCEDURES:DEATH POPE/NAVARRO-VALLS  VIS 050403 (290
)

      DECLARATION ON DETENTION OF CATHOLIC CLERGY IN CHINA

      VATICAN CITY, APR 3, 2005 (VIS) - The following statement was
released yesterday by Joaquin Navarro-Valls, Holy See Press Office
Director, on the arrest and detention of Catholic clergy in China:

        "News is arriving that on Wednesday March 30, 2005, Fr.
Thomas Zhao Kexiun of the diocese of Xuanhua in the province of
Hebei, China, was detained by the police as he returned from a 
funeral. His whereabouts are not known, nor is the reason for his
detention.

        "The bishop of the same diocese, the 85-year-old Philip
Peter Zhao Zhendong was arrested on January 3, 2005, and is being
held in the city of Jiangjiakou.

        "On Palm Sunday March 20, 2005, the national security forces
took the 86-year-old Bishop Giacomo Lin Xili of Wenzhou in the
province of Zhejiang. The reason for his arrest is unknown.

        "Also in the diocese of Wenzhou, two days later, Mr. Gao
Xinyou, a collaborator in the pastoral care of the laity in the area
of Longgang, was arrested." OP/ARRESTS:CLERGY:CHINA/NAVARRO-VALLS
VIS 050403 (170)   


Best regards,
Marc

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