HOLY FATHER SHARES RECENT PAIN

(From DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER, 8/3/94)

The following quotes are from the pope's reflections on May 29. They are his first since his recent hospitalization for a broken thigh.

"...Through

Mary I would like to express my gratitude...for this gift of suffering again linked with the Marian month of May. I am grateful for this gift. I have understood it is a necessary gift. The pope had to stay at Gemelli Hospital; he had to be away from this window for four weeks, four Sundays; he had to suffer - he had to suffer as he did 13 years ago.

"...I understood that I have to lead Christ's church into this third millennium by prayer, by various programs, but I saw this is not enough; she must be led by suffering, by the attack 13 years ago and by this new sacrifice...The pope has to be attacked, the pope has to suffer, so that every family and the world may see that there is...a higher Gospel: the Gospel of suffering by which the future is prepared, the third millennium of families, of every family and of all families...

"I am indebted to the Blessed Virgin for this gift of suffering and I thank her for it. I understand that it was important to have this discussion in the presence of the world's powerful ones. Again I have to meet the powerful of this world and I must speak. With what arguments? I am left with the subject of suffering. And I want to tell them: understand it, understand again why the pope was in the hospital again, suffering again. Understand it, think it over!"

CATHOLIC JOURNALS

From CRUX Of The News, 8/24/92. Portions of John Paul's message to youth re Youth Day, Denver, CO. "Is not the history of mankind deeply marked by a frantic and tragic search for something or someone able to free it from death and guarantee life?...The fact is through the grace of baptism we are already God's children (cf I Jn 3:1-2)...in order to enter at last into true life...baptism, the sacrament by which the fragile life which we received from our parents and which is destined to end on death becomes instead a path to eternity; in the sacrament of penance which continually renews God's life within us by the forgiveness of sins; and in the Eucharist, the `bread of life' (cf John 6:35), which feeds the living and gives strength to their steps during their pilgrimage on earth..."

From THE WANDERER, quote from "Pope, 75, Gives Thanks for his Life and Mission" "At the same time, I wish to give thanks today for the gift of divine life received at the baptismal font in the parish church of Wadowice. With the sacrament of rebirth from water in the Holy Spirit, this new, supernatural life began in me, which is a gift from God Himself - a gift which transcends the dimensions of natural existence."

SECULAR JOURNALS

From GRAND RAPIDS PRESS, 5/30/91 TWO AMERICANS AMONG 23 NEW CARDINALS. "...What the class of '91, College of Cardinals, has in common is doctrinal conservatism and a concern for social progress."

From THE BOSTON GLOBE, 10/14/91. "In a scorching blast at evangelical Protestant "sects," Pope John Paul II accused them yesterday of seducing with `false mirages' and misleading with `distorted simplifications.'"

From MIAMI HERALD, 10/16/92. "Alas, Pope John Paul II has disserved himself by speaking ill-chosen words about evangelical Christian denominations. Addressing the Fourth Latin American Conference of Bishops in Santo Domingo, the pontiff portrayed these Protestants as `voracious wolves' menacing his Catholic flock. Evangelicals have made great inroads among Latin Catholics.

"Of equal concern, other parts of his speech were interpreted as implicitly supporting the notion that the United States is behind Protestantism's hemispheric inroads."

From Rocky Mountain News 5/31/95. PONTIFF WILLING TO DISCUSS ROLE OF PAPACY, In a move with potentially historic consequences, Pope John Paul II said Tuesday he was willing to seek agreement with other Christian denominations on the future role of the papacy.

The pope made this offer in a 115-page encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" (That they all may be One) which is dedicated to the search for unity among Christian churches that split from each other at various times over the past 1,000 years.

The pontiff did not spell out his vision of a new role for the papacy but recalled that in the early church it acted as a "moderator" to resolve disputes and preserve unity. Church experts say such a dialogue could last for decades.

In the encyclical, the 75-year-old pope said he realized that agreement among Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans and the Orthodox Church on the role of the papacy was an immense task but urged them to begin a dialogue.

The pope's encyclical was warmly received in the United States by the National Council of Churches, the largest ecumenical organization, representing Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches.

General Papal Audience, 4/28/98

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