However, some Italian journalists thought that they detected another message in the Pope’s words. Was John Paul seeking to soften the effect of Dominus Iesus, the Vatican document that had provoked an uproar by reiterating the traditional teaching that the fullness of the means to salvation can be found only in the Catholic Church? Was this an attempt to “correct” the thrust of that document, which had been issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith?

After those questions had been raised in speculative stories that proliferated through the international news media for two days, the Vatican press office issued an unusual statement of clarification. The Pope had not contradicted Dominus Iesus, the statement assured reporters. In fact, the stories suggesting that possibility betrayed an “insufficient understanding” of Catholic teaching.

Both the Pope’s Wednesday address and the previous statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were fully in line with the constant teaching of the Church, the Vatican statement observed. Dominus Iesus even contained a passage remarkably similar to the words of the Pope:

For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation.

The Vatican document, issued on November 23 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, cautions against “arbitrary” claims that certain people have the gift of healing. Noting the “multiplication” of prayer groups that have claimed such gifts, the Congregation—in a 15-page document signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, the prefect and secretary—calls for caution and sets forth some criteria for the proper “discernment” of these gifts.

A “prayer for healing” should be carefully distinguished from a “prayer of exorcism,” the Congregation points out. Also, prayers for healing should not be a part of the Mass or of other sacraments (although of course prayers and Masses can be offered for the intention of a physical healing). Further, the Congregation asks for clear distinctions between informal prayers for healing and liturgical ceremonies devoted to that purpose. Liturgical ceremonies are “licit and often opportune” as long as they follow the norms set forth by the diocesan bishop. Informal prayer meetings are also legitimate, but should not be conducted in a way that gives rise to “forms like hysteria, artificiality, theatricality, or sensationalism.” Rather they should be characterized by “serene devotion.”

When healing services are broadcast on television, the Congregation continues, the need for prudence and discretion is even greater. And when people report what appear to be miraculous healings, their cases should be submitted to “competent ecclesiastical authorities” for approval.

Finally, the Vatican document insists that any healings which do take place must be attributed to the workings of the Holy Spirit, rather than to the work of any person or persons. While some individuals evidently do have a special gift, the Congregation insists, that gift is the work of the Spirit, who “gives to certain people a special charism of healing, to make known the power that flows with the grace of the Resurrection.”

An 8-volume listing of the Christians who died for their faith during the 20th century has been formally presented to Pope John Paul II.

The Holy Father accepted the work during a short ceremony on December 4. It was presented to him by the special Jubilee commission which had been assigned, beginning in 1995, to prepare the most comprehensive possible list of the people who could be classified as “witnesses to the faith” in the 20th century.

The list includes 13,400 names, from 106 different countries. The list is broken down into 8 different categories: the victims (both Catholic and Orthodox) of the Soviet regime; victims of Communist oppression in other countries; victims of the Nazi regime; those who died in Asia and Oceania; the victims of anti-Christian violence in Spain and Mexico; the victims of Africa; those who died under persecution in the Americas; and the victims of anti-Christian violence elsewhere around the world. Nearly 70 percent of the list is devoted to the victims of Communism.

The listing includes the names of those who died for the faith between January 1, 1900, and May 7, 2000. The latter date was the day when Pope John Paul II led a commemoration of the lives of 20th-century martyrs. Father Marco Gnavi, the secretary of the special Jubilee commission that prepared the list, said that it is “absolutely still open” to additions, so that Christians who died in the last months of the year 2000 might still be included.

Pope John Paul II called for a “complex concept of health” as he met with participants in an international conference on health care. The Holy Father said that health must be understood to include “the equilibrium and harmony of the person in his totality.”

The Pope met with 500 people at the conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Health Care. He told them that treatment of a particular disease should not distract doctors’ attention from the patient’s overall welfare. The doctor should take into account not only the “sick body,” but also the effects of the disease on the patient’s family life, his work, and his neighborhood.

The world of medicine needs to “recover some criteria for ethical and anthropological discernment,” the Pope continued. As a first step, he said, “at the center of ethical norms should be found the human being and the dignity of the person.” Next, he added, one must include “respect for the right to life—to live and to die in a dignified manner.”

When medicine strays from those principles, and when medical research becomes “primarily a matter of enriching knowledge in terms of its own technology efficiency,” it no longer serves the common good, the Pope warned. He cautioned against the perception of medicine as “an instrument of manipulation and of death” rather than “a true service of life.” Finally the Pope asked world leaders to take steps that would ensure adequate access to health-care coverage for people living in poverty, especially in the Third World.

The Pontifical Council for the Family has released a new document lamenting the steady growth in the number of young couples living together without benefit of marriage.

The 50-page document, released on November 21, is entitled “Family, Marriage, and De Facto Unions.” It is signed by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo and Msgr. Francisco Gil Hellin —the president and secretary, respectively, of the Pontifical Council for the Family. The document is addressed both to priests, who will provide pastoral care for young couples, and political leaders, who set the legislative norms that govern their living arrangements. It urges both priests and politicians to uphold the dignity of marriage as “an affirmation of the truth” and a service to society.

The Council’s document recognizes that de facto unions take many different forms. In some cases the couple expects eventually to marry; in others they have consciously decided not to do so. In some societies, particularly in the Third World, these unions are particularly widespread. In the more developed nations, de facto unions are sometimes the result of a “gender ideology” that rejects the notion of traditional marriage. In all of these cases, however, the Pontifical Council observes that the unions lack the essential element of marriage: a free and permanent commitment to lifelong fidelity and mutual self-giving. It is that permanent bond, the document argues, that forms the ideal situation for child rearing, and thus serves the public interest of society at large.

The Council therefore decries the legislative efforts to grant equal status to non-marital unions, including homosexual unions. These efforts will ultimately undermine society, the document argues: “When the family breaks down, the state must multiply its interventions to resolve precisely those problems that should remain to be solved in the private sphere, and the costs are much higher in both psychological and economic terms.”

The document goes on to outline Church teaching regarding sacramental marriage, as an aid to priests providing pastoral care for couples who may be living in irregular unions. Preparation for Christian marriage, the Council says, should be not merely a matter of conveying information to the couple, but “a real process of formation of persons, through an education in the faith and in virtues.” Today that Christian formation is doubly important, the Vatican document points out, since the Church can no longer rely on contemporary society to uphold the family.

As the Vatican observed the Jubilee for the laity on November 26, Pope John Paul II urged faithful Catholics to re-read the documents of Vatican II.

“Some 35 years after its conclusion, it is time to go back to the Council,” the Pope told the congregation at a Mass in St. Peter’s Square. He characterized the Council as “a decisive turning point,” marking the beginning of the “age of the laity.”

The Pontiff also called upon lay Catholics to accept “the challenge of sanctity” by living “Christianity without compromise.” In order to do that, he continued, they must base their lives on “a deep spiritual life, intense prayer, constant formation, and sincere adherence to the directives of the Church.” Today Christians must have “the courage to make radical choices,” he said.

While lay people should be active in the Church’s missionary endeavors, the Pontiff said, they should be careful to preserve the proper distinction between priestly ministry and lay apostolate. Lay people, he pointed out, can bear witness to their faith “in all circumstances and situations—in every social, cultural, and political context.” He praised the many faithful lay Catholics who have made bold public witness to the faith, “even at the cost of martyrdom.”

Catholic charitable organizations should preserve a distinct Christian identity that distinguishes them from other groups, the Vatican has stated.

The pontifical charity Cor Unum convened a meeting of the world's largest Catholic humanitarian groups to underline the importance of preserving the "direct inspiration of the Gospel" in the work of such organizations. In preparation for the November 27 conference in Rome, each organization was asked to prepare a clear statement of its own purpose and identity. Cor Unum emphasized that each Catholic humanitarian group should develop and maintain a "specific profile," and undertake activities motivated by "a concrete witness to evangelical charity."

Among the groups participating in the meeting in Rome were the American Catholic Relief Services, French Secours, German Deutscher Caritasverband and Misereor, Italian Caritas, and international groups such as Aid to the Church in Need.

The Vatican’s top foreign-policy official, speaking to his European counterparts, has insisted that religious liberty must be seen “in its own right,” rather than “in the context of minority rights, or in denunciations of fanaticism.”

Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran was speaking on November 27 to the foreign ministers of the countries belonging to the Organization for European Security and Cooperation (OSCE). The archbishop observed that the 55 countries belonging to that group are “united by a common patrimony, in which religious convictions play an integral role.”

Religion, Archbishop Tauran argued, should be recognized as “a source of inspiration that calls man to rise above himself and to listen to God, to listen to others, to discover the truth that is in everyone, so that together they may build a world where we can live well.” In short, religion plays a crucial role in building society, he argued. He decried the tendency to regard religious beliefs as secondary considerations, subordinate to other political forces.

Speaking to the World Congress for Lay Apostolate, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris remarked that lay Catholics should bear witness to “a newness of life.”

Noting that the Second Vatican Council called upon lay people to transform the secular culture, the cardinal said that conjugal love provides a prime example of how married couples can “cooperate in the sanctification of the world.” The love between man and woman, he explained, “bears testimony to the fidelity of God toward mankind,” and helps prepare us for the “still much greater” love that men can only find “face to face with God.”

Cardinal Lustiger also exhorted lay people to regard their material possessions as ways of serving others. “The desire to possess material goods is one of the principal sources of conflicts and wars,” he said, whereas “the generosity to make gifts is the source of peace.” He called upon the example of Jesus, who washed the feet of his disciples, and suggested that if all Christians took a similar attitude, their behavior would cause a “complete transformation” of the world.

To avoid making the individual a “simple object of consumption” in the global economy, every person should be seen “in the context of his family,” Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo said.

Speaking to a conference in Rome on “globalization, the economy, and the family,” the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family observed that demographic trends over the past decade have disproved “the myth of overpopulation,” and yet wealthy nations continue to push a population-control agenda on the Third World, in what the cardinal termed a form of “ideological aggression.”

The net effect of this effort, Cardinal Trujillo said, is a “negation of the role of the family.” Individuals are viewed merely as economic actors, and as a consequence the question of poverty is seen as a matter of having too many people to feed. A healthier approach, the cardinal said, would begin with the recognition that “the existence of the family gives rise to a multitude of mechanisms and possibilities that aid individuals and help them to resolve their problems.”

The Council which Cardinal Trujillo heads soon followed up his message with a public call to political leaders, urging them to recognize “the rights of children,” not in isolation, but in the context of the family. The Council’s statement, issued on November 21, reflected the conclusions of an international conference of theologians and pastoral workers, which met in Rome in October. The 5,000 participants reaffirmed the Church’s stance in favor of marriage and family, and insisted that children’s rights must be understood as family rights.

The child is not “a monad,” isolated from society, the Pontifical Council argued. Rather, the child is born and raised into a family, with parents who are acquainted with and responsible for his needs. The Council also argued that children’s rights should be respected even prior to their birth. Thus abortion is a form of child abuse, the Council said.

At a Vatican-organized seminar, Bishop Diarmuid Martin said that debt reduction could be a “revolutionary” approach to fighting poverty in the Third World. But he said the efforts to reduce international debt have been unsatisfactory.

Bishop Martin, the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, suggested that debt-reduction measures should be coupled with concrete efforts to help the poor. He urged lending agencies to ask the debtor countries for evidence of “a national strategy to fight poverty.” Only when citizens are truly involved will the nation have a real commitment to the process of ridding itself from the debt burden, he reasoned.

In past years, Bishop Martin continued, many efforts to alleviate poverty have foundered because the programs did not take into account the realities of the particular countries. New approaches are now needed, he said, and they should be designed with the help of the people who are in need. “We must be flexible, recognize our mistakes, and be prepared to change directions when necessary,” he said.