MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR WORLD MISSION SUNDAY 2002

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The evangelizing mission of the Church is essentially the announcement of God's love, mercy and forgiveness revealed to mankind through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is the proclamation of the good news that God loves us and wants all people united in his loving mercy, he forgives us and asks us to forgive others even for the greatest offences. This is the Word of reconciliation entrusted to us because, as St Paul says "God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself not counting men's transgressions against them and he entrusted the message of reconciliation to us" (2 Cor 5,19). These words are the echo and a reminder of the supreme cry from the heart of Christ on the cross "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Lk 23,34).

MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE 36th WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY

"Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel"

[Sunday, 12 May 2002]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. The Church in every age continues the work begun on the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles, in the power of the Holy Spirit, went forth into the streets of Jerusalem to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in many tongues (cf. Acts 2:5-11). Through the succeeding centuries, this evangelizing mission spread to the far corners of the earth, as Christianity took root in many places and learned to speak the diverse languages of the world, always in obedience to Christ's command to preach the Gospel to every nation (cf. Mt 28:19-20).

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXIX WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS

21 APRIL 2002 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Theme: "The vocation to holiness"

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!

1. To you all "beloved of God and saints by vocation, grace and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rm 1,7). These words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians of Rome introduce the theme of the next World Day of Prayer for Vocations: "The vocation to holiness". Holiness! This is the grace and aim of every believer, as the Book of Leviticus reminds us: "Be holy, because I, the Lord, your God, am Holy" (19,2).

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II

Easter Sunday, 31 March 2002

1. "Venit Jesus... et dixit eis: ‘Pax vobis!’"
"Jesus came... and said to them, "Peace be with you" (Jn 20:19).
Christ’s blessing resounds today,
on this most solemn day: Peace be with you!
Peace to all the men and women of the world!

MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER 
FOR THE WORLD DAY OF THE SICK 
FOR THE YEAR 2002

1. For some years 11 February, the day on which the Church commemorates the apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes, has fittingly come to be associated with an important event: the celebration of the World Day of the Sick. The year 2002 marks the tenth such celebration, which will take place at the well-known Marian pilgrimage centre in South India, the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Health at Vailankanny, known as “the Lourdes of the East” (Angelus, 31 July 1988).

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II

Saturday, 2 February 2002
VI Day of Consecrated Life

1. "They brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord...)" (Lk 2,22).

Today, forty days after Christmas, the Church relives the mystery of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. She relives it with the astonishment of the Holy Family of Nazareth, enlightened by the full revelation of that "child", who - as the first and second readings have reminded us - is the eschatological judge promised by the prophets (Ml 3,1-3), the "merciful and faithful high priest" who came to "expiate the sins of the people" (Heb 2,17). The Child, whom Mary and Joseph lovingly brought to the Temple, is the Word Incarnate, the Redeemer of man and of history!

MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
JOHN PAUL II
FOR LENT 2002

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. We are preparing to follow the path of Lent, which will lead us to the solemn celebration of the central mystery of faith, the mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. We are preparing for the favourable time which the Church offers the faithful so that they may contemplate the work of salvation accomplished by our Lord on the Cross. The heavenly Father’s saving plan was completed in the free and total gift to us of the only begotten Son. “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Jn 10:18), Jesus declares, leaving no doubt that he decides to sacrifice his own life for the salvation of the world. In confirmation of so great a gift of love, the Redeemer goes on: “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II

CHRISTMAS 2001

1. "Christ is our peace",
"Christ is our peace;
he has made the two into one people" (cf. Eph 2:14).
At the dawn of the new millennium,
which began with so much hope
but is now threatened by dark clouds
of violence and war,

THE HOLY FATHER'S MESSAGE
FOR WORLD MISSION SUNDAY 2001

Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo (Ps 89[88],2) [I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever].

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. With intimate joy we celebrated the Great Jubilee of salvation, a time of grace for the whole Church. Divine mercy, experienced by each of the faithful, prompts us to "put into the deep", remembering with gratitude the past, living with passion the present and looking forward with confidence to the future, convinced that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever" (Heb 13,8) (cf. Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio ineunte, n. 1). This tending towards the future, illuminated by hope, must be the basis of all Church activity in the new millennium. This is the message that I wish to address to every Catholic on the occasion of Mission Sunday, which will be celebrated on 21 October.