Rome Street Cleaners Visit Papal Nativity Scene

VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE, Jan. 5—Since he ascended to the papal throne, Pope John Paul II has made a practice of visiting the Nativity scene set up annually by the workers of Rome's Sanitation Department. This year, the Holy Father changed his custom and invited the workers to visit him instead.

He summoned Rome's garbage collectors to visit the papal Nativity scene in the Vatican Apostolic Palace and greeted them personally in Clementine Hall, thanking them for their years of hospitality in inviting him and praising them for “the important service their company makes for the city and its population.”

During the brief encounter, the Pope said that this year while he did not see their Nativity scene in person, he was satisfied to admire it “in a photograph … as well as in a small reproduction of it, built with the same materials. However, at the end of the Christmas festivities, I wished to invite you in answer to your courtesy.”

Russian Patriarch Blames Vatican

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Jan. 4—Moscow Patriarch Alexy II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, told a newspaper that he blamed the Vatican for worsening relations between the churches, singling out last year's decision by the Holy See to establish western dioceses to serve Roman Catholics residing in Russia.

“Our church was presented with a fait accompli, while such issues need to be seriously discussed beforehand,” the patriarch complained. “The Vatican's decision once again revealed its strategy of insistent missionary work among Orthodox peoples, to which we are categorically opposed.”

Roman authorities have responded that local Catholics—many of German or Polish descent—have a moral right to be overseen by their own bishops.

Patriarch Alexy did not rule out further dialogue between the historically divided churches and said he continued “to hope for a change in the Vatican's position.”

Official: Pope ‘Deeply Worried’ Over Iraq

LA REPPUBLICA (Italy), Jan. 4—Pope John Paul II is “deeply worried” about the likelihood of an upcoming war between the United States and Iraq, according to Archbishop Renato Martino, the Pope's longtime envoy to the United Nations who now heads the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Archbishop Martino emphasized the Church's position that no single country can act unilaterally to police the world.

“The Pope lives the drama of the moment, he feels involved personally,” the archbishop told the Italian paper La Reppublica. “We cannot think that there is a universal policeman to take a stick to those who behave badly.”

He suggested that Americans were comfortable acting unilater-ally “because American society is very close-knit and it feels sure of itself. Then there's the aggression it suffered on Sept. 11. The fact that they hadn't ever suffered aggression on their own territory played a role in the reaction, which can be understood. Yet it's clear that, being part of the international assembly, the United States must also realize the needs of others.”