ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
AT THE PRESENTATION OF THE LETTERS
ACCREDITING FIVE NEW AMBASSADORS TO THE HOLY SEE

Thursday, 16 December 2004

Your Excellencies,

1. I welcome you with pleasure on the occasion of the presentation of the Letters accrediting you as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of your countries: Kenya, Luxembourg, Malawi, Norway and Thailand. As I thank you for conveying to me the courteous words of your Heads of State, I should be grateful if you would express my respectful wishes to them and for their important mission at the service of their country. Through you, I also greet the civil and religious Leaders of your nations and all your compatriots, with a special thought for the Catholic communities.

1. "The earth has yielded its fruit", exclaims Psalm 67[66], one of the texts inserted into the Liturgy of Vespers that we have just proclaimed. The sentence calls to mind a hymn of thanksgiving to the Creator for the gifts of the earth, a sign of divine blessing. This natural element, however, is closely interwoven with the historical aspect: nature's fruits are taken as an opportunity to ask God again and again to bless his people (cf. vv. 2, 7, 8); thus, all the nations of the earth address Israel, seeking through her to reach God the Saviour.

MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE PARTICIPANTS
IN THE EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF ITALIAN CATHOLIC ACTION (ACI)

Dear Participants in the Extraordinary Assembly of Italian Catholic Action,

1. I am pleased to greet you all with joy and affection, dear brothers and sisters who have gathered in Rome for your Extraordinary Assembly on the theme: "History becomes prophecy". I address a cordial greeting in particular to your General Chaplain, Bishop Francesco Lambiasi, and to your National President, Dr Paola Bignardi.

MASS FOR THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN ROME

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II

Tuesday, 11 December 2001

"Behold, the Lord comes with might" (Is 40,10).

In the Advent season that we are living, the Prophet's words can have a far-reaching impact. Advent is the season of watching and waiting for the Messiah, who "comes with might" to set his people free and whom we will welcome in a few days in the poverty of Bethlehem. He will come as a victorious King at the end of time, but now he returns continally "to renew the world". We must learn to read the "signs" of his presence in the events of history.

HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
APOSTOLIC LETTER
ISSUED “MOTU PROPRIO”

APOSTOLOS SUOS

ON THE THEOLOGICAL
AND JURIDICAL NATURE
OF EPISCOPAL CONFERENCES (1)

I

INTRODUCTION

1. The Lord Jesus constituted the Apostles “in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from amongst them”.(2) The Apostles were not chosen and sent by Jesus independently of one another, but rather as part of the group of the Twelve, as the Gospels make clear by the repeatedly used expression, “one of the Twelve”.(3) To all of them together the Lord entrusted the mission of preaching the Kingdom of God,(4) and they were sent by him, not individually, but two by two.(5) At the Last Supper Jesus prayed to the Father for the unity of the Apostles and of those who through their word would believe in him.(6) After his Resurrection and before the Ascension, the Lord reconfirmed Peter in the supreme pastoral office (7) and entrusted to the Apostles the same mission which he had himself received from the Father.(8)

APOSTOLIC LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II

DIVINI AMORIS SCIENTIA

SAINT THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND THE HOLY FACE
IS PROCLAIMED A DOCTOR OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH

1. THE SCIENCE OF DIVINE LOVE, which the Father of mercies pours out through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, is a gift granted to the little and the humble so that they may know and proclaim the secrets of the kingdom, hidden from the learned and the wise; for this reason Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, praising the Father who graciously willed it so (cf. Lk 10:21-22; Mt 11:25-26).

IOANNES PAULUS EPISCOPUS
SERVUS SERVORUM DEI
AD PERPETUAM REI MEMORIAM

CONSTITUTIO APOSTOLICA

NOVA CANONICA ORDINATIO NICOLAITANAE BARENSI
BASILICAE DATUR, IX EXPLETO SAECULO A TRANSLATIONE
RELIQUIARUM SANCTI NICOLAI, EPISCOPI MYRENSIS*

A seguito delle celebrazioni del IX centenario della Traslazione delle reliquie di San Nicola da Myra a Bari (1087-1987) la Sede Apostolica — considerati i mutamenti legati alle direttive del Concilio Vaticano II e le nuove prospettive di ordine pastorale della Basilica del Santo — ha deciso di dare ancor maggiore impulso alla vita dell'insigne Tempio, in parte confermando, e in parte sviluppando le linee dettate nelle due precedenti Bolle Sacris in aedibus del 5 agosto 1951 e Basilicae Nicolaitanae dell'11 febbraio 1968.

POST-SYNODAL
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
RECONCILIATION AND PENANCE
OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE BISHOPS
CLERGY AND FAITHFUL
ON RECONCILIATION AND PENANCE
IN THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH TODAY

INTRODUCTION

ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE DOCUMENT

1. To speak of reconciliation and penance is for the men and women of our time an invitation to rediscover, translated into their own way of speaking, the very words with which our savior and teacher Jesus Christ began his preaching: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel,"(1) that is to say, accept the good news of love, of adoption as children of God and hence of brotherhood.

MESSAGE OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE PARTICIPANTS
IN THE ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS "UNIV 2005"

Dear Young People,

1. I am delighted to offer a cordial welcome to all of you who have come from various parts of the world to take part in the annual Congress of UNIV. I greet each one of you with affection, and I ask you to make the most of the opportunity of your stay in Rome to grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. I greet those who accompany you; in a special way, I greet the Bishop Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarría Rodríguez, who is taking part in your meeting.