Little Missionaries Visit Pope

FIDES, June 6 — Thousands of child members of the Pontifical Missionary Childhood Society were scheduled to pay a call on Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica on June 14, reported Fides, the Vatican missionary news service.

On Jan. 6, the Holy Father sent a letter to children members of the society encouraging them in their missionary activity. He urged them to listen to the words of Jesus, take part in Mass and show their solidarity with less fortunate boys and girls. He asked them to pray a Hail Mary every day and the older ones to pray a daily rosary.

The Missionary Childhood Society, one of the four Pontifical Missionary Societies, aims to educate children to a missionary spirit and to cooperate, with the offering of prayers and material aid, in meeting the needs of less fortunate children in mission countries. As part of the June 14 festivity, the children were to gather before the Pope to renew their promises to serve as missionaries to their peers.

New Israeli Ambassador Visits Vatican

VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE, June 2 — Oded Ben-Hur, the new ambassador of the State of Israel to the Holy See, presented his documents to Pope John Paul II on June 2.

In his response, the Holy Father said, “Your presence today is a testimony to our common desire to work together to build a world of peace and security, not only in Israel and the Middle East but [also] in every part of the globe, for all peoples everywhere.”

The Pope noted that the desire for peace “is probably nowhere more acutely felt than in the Holy Land. There is absolutely no question that peoples and nations have the inherent right to live in security. This right, however, entails a corresponding duty: to respect the rights of others. Therefore, just as violence and terror can never be an acceptable means for making political statements, neither can retaliation ever lead to a just and lasting peace.”

He also noted “difficulties that the Catholic faithful in the Holy Land face on a daily basis. Many of these problems, such as access to Christian shrines and holy sites, the isolation and suffering of Christian communities [and] the dwindling of the Christian population due to emigration are in some way connected to the current conflict but should not discourage us from seeking possible remedies now, from working now to meet these challenges.”

Sainthood for Pope John Paul I?

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, June 9 — He wasn't Pope for long, but his sanctity is still remembered. That's the growing consensus on Pope John Paul I, the Italian Pope whose reign lasted only 33 days in 1978.

The Associated Press reported that the case is building to make John Paul I a saint. His native diocese in northern Italy has begun to compile a dossier to promote his cause, according to Father Giuseppe Bratti, secretary to the bishop of Belluno-Feltre, who has appointed a priest in Rome as postulator for the cause.

The AP noted that some 300,000 Catholics have signed letters of support for the cause.