1999
January 13, In his first general audience of the new year, Pope John Paul II offered his reflections on the ways in which different faiths seek to know God. "The Church treats with respect the efforts of different religions to see the face of God," the Pope told his Wednesday audience. At the same time, he emphasized, in analyzing the beliefs of other faiths the Church is careful to distinguish between "what is acceptable and what is incompatible with Christian revelation."

January 14, Pope John Paul II emphasized the need to proclaim the Gospel, and to carry out "an absolutely indispensable dialogue with all people of all cultures and all races," as he met with the participants in a symposium organized by the Pontifical Academy for Culture. Speaking on January 14 to an assembly of scholars from different European countries and different religious denominations, the Holy Father said that "the meeting between cultures and the faith is essential to the search for truth."

January 19, In a regular annual ceremony on Monday, Pope John Paul II blessed two sheep whose wool will be used to make the ceremonial vestment given to archbishops as a sign of their authority. The woolen vestment, the pallium, is conferred on each metropolitan archbishop. The sheep whose wool is used for these vestments are traditionally blessed by the Pope on or around the feast of St. Agnes, January 21. The pallium is a white woolen band that circles the neck, with pieces hanging down on the front and back, decorated with crosses. It is worn on formal liturgical occasions by all archbishops and patriarchs, including the pope.

January 20, Pope John Paul II has issued an urgent call for efforts to restore the peace in Kosovo and in Sierra Leone.

Also on this date, The Vatican is actively considering a papal trip to Vietnam, although the country's Communist government has not yet authorized such a visit.

January 21, As he received a group of Church jurists in a private audience on Thursday, Pope John Paul II spoke out in opposition to the legalization of homosexual "marriage."

In a telegram to the bishops of Yugoslavia, Pope John Paul II has said that he is "profoundly grieved" by the crisis in Kosovo. The Pontiff's message, dated January 21 and addressed to Archbishop Franc Perko of Belgrade, renewed the call "to those responsible for public affairs to put an end to the spiral of violence," and to work for a just and lasting peace.

January 22, Pope John-Paul II arrives in Mexico, saying that his visit highlighted by the promulgation of a apostolic exhortation outlining the pastoral challenges that face the Church in the Americas-- would be "a historic event" for Catholics in the Western hemisphere.

Thousands of pro-lifers marched in Washington, DC on Friday to mark the 26th anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

On January 23, the Holy Father traveled to the Guadalupe basilica, where he was officially greeted by Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City on behalf of the Mexican episcopal conference. There he concelebrated Mass with 500 bishops from North and South America, and formally promulgated his apostolic exhortation, Ecclesia in America

On Sunday, January 24, the Pope celebrated Mass for an enormous congregation at a racetrack outside Mexico City. Police estimated that well over 1 million people, perhaps as many as 2 million-- crowded into the facility, to hear the Holy Father say in his homily, "All members of Mexican society have equal dignity." And the Pope stressed the same message on Saturday evening when he spoke with members of the diplomatic corps in Mexico City, insisting that a human person cannot be transformed into "a number of a simple economic factor."

January 25, In the last major public appearance of his pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II told a congregation of 115,000 people in Azteca soccer stadium that they have "an important role to play in the building of the new world which the Second Vatican Council sought to promote. "America, land of Christ and Mary!" the Holy Father exclaimed as he began his address to representatives of all ages, races, and social backgrounds. The huge congregation spent a total of five hours in Azteca stadium, three of them in the Pope's presence, for prayers, song, and a variety of performances. The performers included dancers representing different American Indian tribes, bringing together their cultural traditions in an effort to highlight the unity of the American continents-- one of the key themes of the Synod for the Americas and the Pope's own apostolic exhortation, Ecclesia in America. In a special word to the younger members of the assembly, the Pope cautioned that they should promote authentic moral principles , "so that the global society which is now being built does not inherit the errors of the century which is coming to a close." Instead, the Pope continued, the global society of the future should be "oriented toward God." "You are the stewards of a rich human and religious tradition," the Pope told the Mexican crowd. To illustrate the religious patrimony of the Americas, he even alluded to the Mexican King Quetzalcoatl, who is revered as a symbol of wisdom among Indian tribes. Quetzalcoatl, the Holy Father said, grasped the fundamental truth that man is at the center of creation. That insight, he added, helped to prepare his society to receive the Gospel.

January 26, Pope John-Paul II arrives in St. Louis, Missouri.

On August 2nd, One of the four major churches of Assisi, the home of Ss. Francis and Clare, reopened on Saturday, ten months after earthquakes damaged all of the churches, causing them to be closed for repair.

On August 4th, Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli was asked by Pope John Paul II to perform the official anthem for the Jubilee Year 2000 during opening ceremonies on Christmas Day, according to news reports.

On August 6th, Italian archeologists said that they have found a marble inscription on the island that supports the Biblical assertion that St. Paul preached there.

On August 12th, In his characteristic blunt style, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez of Guadalajara closed the Archdiocesan Conference on Sects and Evangelization by saying that "lazy Catholics" are easy prey for the increasing presence of Fundamentalist groups in Mexico.

On August 17th, Guerillas of Colombia's "National Liberation Army" (ELN) rebel force kidnapped on Sunday Bishop Jose de Jesus Quintero Diaz of Tibu, according to a priest released by the rebels on Monday to inform the diocese.

On September 2nd, Margherita Guarducci, who identified the tomb of St. Peter under the altar of the Vatican basilica that bears his name, died in Rome at the age of 97. Guarducci, widely known as "the archeologist of St. Peter's," presided over the explorations of the Vatican from 1939 to 1969. In 1965, her team confirmed the identity of St. Peter's tomb, on the basis of ancient writings inscribed on the walls of the site.

On September 5th, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with Pope John Paul II at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandalfo.

During his Sunday public audience on Pope John Paul II paid homage to the memory of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, on the second anniversary of her death.

On September 29th, About 30 Catholics were murdered in their local church in Burundi's capital Bujumbura,according to the Catholic missionary news agency MISNA.

A report in Iraq's official news agency on Tuesday criticized Pope John Paul II's planned visit to the country in December, quoting seven Islamic scholars who accused the Holy Father of using the trip to mitigate the West's "crimes against Arabs."

The Vatican has informed a Catholic hospital in Arkansas that it must stop allowing outside doctors to sterilize women in violation of the Church's teaching against artificial birth control.

Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili, East Timor, called on Germany on Wednesday to support a proposed plan to rebuild the country following weeks of violence by anti-independence militias.

On October 1, the Vatican published a new apostolic letter by Pope John Paul II, in the form of a motu proprio, proclaiming three new patron saints for Europe: Sts. Catherine of Siena, Brigitte of Sweden, and Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (better known as Edith Stein).

On October 3rd, Pope John Paul II presided at the beatification of six people. The newly restored façade of St. Peter's Basilica formed a sharp background for the portraits of a Belgian priest and six Italians: Edward Joannes Maria Poppe (1890-1924), Ferdinando Maria Baccilieri (1821-1893), Arcangelo Tadini (1846-1912), Mariano da Roccacasale (1778-1866), Diego Oddi, (1839–1919), and Nicola da Gesturi (1882-1958).

The Vatican has made public the schedule for the November trip by Pope John Paul II to India and Georgia.

The head of the papal charity Cor Unum has traveled to Kosovo to assess the reconstruction of the region, and to supervise Catholic efforts to contribute to "the peaceful common life" of Albanians and Serbs there.

On October 6th, The Vatican has temporarily suspended for a scheduled papal visit to Iraq, because of mixed signals from the Iraqi regime.

Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili returned to East Timor on Wednesday, almost a month after being forced to flee the country by anti-independence militias that carried out a destructive campaign against the Timorese. The bishop, a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-winner, left East Timor in early September after militias attacked his residence, burning it to the ground, and forcing hundreds of refugees sheltering there to flee. Bishop Belo said he hoped his return encouraged the tens of thousands of refugees still hiding in the forests to return and start rebuilding their lives.

On October 7th, Despite reports of problems planning a papal trip to Iraq in December, the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church said on Wednesday that he believed the visit will take place.

A company that develops customized, branded Internet service providers (ISP) announced that it had teamed up with the Vatican Treasury Museum of St. Peter's Basilica to launch a new ISP for Catholic families.

On October 13th, The Vatican newspaper has emphatically condemned a French government decision that will afford legal recognition to common-law marriages and homosexual unions.

On Christmas Eve, Our Holy Father, Pope John-Paul II pushed open the Holy Door to the St. John Lateran Basilica to begin the Holy Year Jubilee.

On December 20, The Pope said he will canonize Blessed Sister Faustina Kowalska. The sister is known around the world as the Messenger of Divine Mercy.

On December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the Holy Father told the young people that "many of your contemporaries are profoundly scarred by violence, by the fear of tomorrow or by anguished questions about the meaning of life." He urged them to help those troubled neighbors "build up their interior life" and thus find the path to a more humane society.

In his last public audience of the year on December 29, Pope John Paul II spoke of the Jubilee as "a time of joy which must be received in prayer and in the action of the Lord's grace, for the gift of the Incarnation." He also stressed the importance of strong family life.

On December 31, Pope John Paul II encouraged the performance of sacred music, saying that it is an "inestimable treasure" of the Catholic Church, and enriches the liturgy.

The Islamic government of Qatar has approved the building of a Catholic church in the capital to serve the Persian Gulf country's estimated 60,000 Catholics, according to the Gulf Times newspaper.

2000
Pope John-Paul II celebrates the Octave of Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary with Holy Mass at St. Peter's, opening the World Day of Peace.

At Midnight, January 1, Pope John-Paul II gave this address: "The clock of history strikes an important hour at the moment the year 2000 begins, and we enter into a new millennium. For believers this is the year of the Great Jubilee.

A Happy New Year to all of you, men and women of every part of the world! As we cross the threshold of the new year I would like to knock at the door of every home, to bring to each of you my cordial good wishes: a Happy New Year to everyone in the light which shines out from Bethlehem upon the whole universe!"

On January 12, The Vatican has published the schedule for a papal trip to the Holy Land in March, revealing that the Holy Father will travel to Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories.

The Holy See will soon establish formal diplomatic relations with Bahrain, according to announcements issued simultaneously in Rome and in Manama, the capital of the Persian Gulf state.

On January 14, Italian homosexual activists demonstrated outside the Vatican on the second anniversary of the date when a distraught homosexual immolated himself in St. Peter's Square.

Bishop Raul Vera of Saltillo, a Mexican Bishop, who until recently served in the restive Chiapas region, said in an interview published on Thursday that the government's policy in the area was based on force.

Also on January 14, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Avdeyev met today with Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's Foreign Minister, to discuss cooperation between Russia and the Vatican in various international issues.

On January 15, A group of Muslim demonstrators in Jakarta threatened to start killing Christians in retaliation for continued fighting between the two religious groups in the Maluku province.

An open letter from a Chilean pro-life organization requesting the approval of the "Day of the Unborn Child" prompted varied reactions from the two main candidates in the presidential elections that will take place January 23. The Chilean Congress has already voted March 25 -- Feast of the Annunciation -- as the Day of the Unborn Child, but the law must be approved by the president

Pope John Paul II received a delegation of 250 people who are engaged in preparation for the World Youth Day celebration that will take place in Rome in August 2000.

Pope John Paul II met on January 17 with an ecumenical delegation from the churches of Finland, composed of clerics who had come to Rome for the January 18 ecumenical ceremony at St. Paul's Outside the Walls.

On January 18 Scotland's Cardinal Thomas Winning came under fire after he branded homosexuality a "perversion."

Pope John Paul II met on January 21 with judges from the Vatican's canonical courts, and urged them not to accept theories that undermine the teaching of the Church regarding the indissolubility of marriage.

On January 21, the feast of St. Agnes, Pope John Paul II followed a Roman tradition by blessing lambs whose wool will be used for the palliums which are symbols of an archbishop's office. The pallium, a white woolen vestment, is worn by archbishops during liturgical celebrations. Each year on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Pope presents the pallium to each prelate who has been named as an archbishop during the preceding year. The presentation of the pallium is a symbol of the communion among the metropolitan churches around the world.

In a letter made public by the Vatican on January 22, Pope John Paul II paid homage to Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare movement, who was celebrating her 80th birthday. Founded in 1943 in the Italian city of Trent, the Focolare movement encourages lay people to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus through prayer and the reading of the Scriptures.

NomJanuary 23, Pope John Paul II firmly condemned the assassination of a Spanish army leader by Basque terrorists.

On January 24, Pope John Paul II received Costa Rica's President Miguel Angel Rodriguez at the Vatican.

The week-long biennial meeting of the Catholic Bishops of India ended in southern Madras with the declaration that "the work of the Church will continue."

On January 27, 11 new decrees regarding candidates for canonization and beatification will be read in the presence of Pope John Paul II.

The Italian daily Il Messaggero has revealed-- and Vatican sources have confirmed, that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved a new series of decrees, including the official recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Pope John XXIII. In the last series of decrees from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which were officially read on December 20, Pope John XXIII was recognized for his "heroic virtue" and thus qualified for the title "Venerable." The recognition of a miracle in his case, the healing of Sister Catherine Capitani in 1966-- clears the way for his beatification, which is expected to take place later this year.

At his Angelus audience of Sunday, February 6, Pope John Paul II took note of an Italian national day dedicated to pro-life activism.

Catholic leaders in the Holy Land gathered on February 8 for their first-ever synod, bringing together over 300 bishops, priests, religious, and laymen to address the shrinking Christian community in the mainly Muslim and Jewish region.

Cardinal John O'Connor of New York came to the Vatican on February 10 for a "farewell tour" according to a report in The Associated Press.

On February 12, The Vatican's chief foreign-policy representative has condemned UN programs that seek to promote contraception and abortion.

Speaking on February 27 at the concluding session of an international conference on the implementation of Vatican II, Pope John Paul II said that the Council was "a true prophecy for the life of the Church," and added that the teachings of Vatican II will continue to furnish a guide for the Church "for many years" during the new millennium.

Pope John Paul II arrived in Egypt in the early afternoon of February 24, to begin the 90th foreign voyage of his pontificate.

On March 21 Pope John-Paul II visited the Holy Land. As he arrived in Tel Aviv to begin his historic visit to Israel, Pope John Paul II said to his hosts: "We must struggle always and everywhere to present the true face of Jews and Judaism, of Christians and Christianity, at every level of understanding, teaching, and communication."

On April 7, Pope John Paul II met with German foreign minister Joseph Fischer for a private conversation at the Vatican.

On Saturday, April 8, Pope John Paul II received Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and the country's foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek in a private audience.

Pope John Paul II appointed the bishop of Las Vegas, Bishop Daniel Walsh, to head the diocese of Santa Rosa, California, nearly a year after the former bishop resigned in the midst of a sexual and financial scandal.

The skull of Benedict XIII, a Spaniard, who was the successor of Clement VIII, an anti-pope who ruled from Avignon, France, during the time known as the Great Western Schism, was stolen from a museum in Spain.

A Gallup Poll has found that roughly one-fourth of Americans have a negative view of the Catholic religion and nearly two-thirds view it favorably.

On April 14, The Vatican announced that the papal nuncio in the United States, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, is ready to work with authorities in Washington to secure the peaceful return of Elian Gonzales to his Cuban father.

Pope John-Paul II met with Morocco's King Mohammed VI, in a private audience at the Vatican on April 12, Pope John Paul II observed that the young king traces his lineage back directly to Mohammed.

Pope John Paul II has named Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, to head the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

Pope John Paul II welcomed Vicente Espeche Gil, the new Argentine ambassador to the Holy See, in a Vatican ceremony.

An estimated 100,000 people participated in Palm Sunday services in St. Peter's Square on April 16.

More than 10,000 Christians who died for their faith during the 20th century will be named in a volume prepared by the Commission for New Martyrs. The listing is expected to be complete by October or November of this year.

Two nuns walking to church for Easter vigil Mass were "deliberately" knocked down on Holy Saturday night by a masked assailant on a motorbike in Rewari, 80 kilometers west of New Delhi, in northern Haryana state.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Arsonists in a majority Muslim region of Tanzania attacked and burned a Catholic church on Holy Saturday, according to the bishop of Zanzibar.

On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 30, Blessed Faustina was Canonized a Saint by Pope John-Paul II. The new Saint invites us by the witness of her life to keep our faith and hope fixed on God, the Father rich in mercy, who saved us by the Precious Blood of his Son, risen from the dead and living for ever.

On June 24, The Holy See has issued a stern warning to China regarding the illicit ordination of bishops for the government- controlled Patriotic Catholic Association.

The Vatican finally unveiled the famous "third secret" of Fatima, at a news conference on Monday, June 26. As the Vatican had already disclosed, the "third secret" comes in the form of a prophetic message-- a vision of a struggle between the Church and a totalitarian system-- and culminates with a vision of an assassination attempt on the Pope.

In his theological commentary on the "third secret" of Fatima, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger emphasizes that the key to understanding the Fatima message lies in the words attributed to the Virgin Mary: "Penance, penance, penance!"

On June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, some 24 new archbishops received the pallium-- the symbol of their metropolitan authority-- from Pope John Paul II in a solemn ceremony. During that ceremony, the Pope conveyed the white woolen vestment on a group of prelates that included Archbishops Edward Egan of New York, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, and Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, England Also included are newly installed archbishops from Italy, France, Croatia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, the Bahamas, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

Also on June 29, as he celebrated the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul along with representatives from the Greek Orthodox Church, Pope John Paul II issued a plea for all Christians to recognize the importance of the papal ministry as "a service of unity to the people of God."

On July 1, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints published 19 new decrees on candidates for beatification and canonization. The promulgation of these decrees, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, cleared the way for five future saints: the Italian priests Blessed Luigi Scrosoppi (1800-1884) and Blessed Agostino Roscelli (1818-1902), the Italian layman and third-order Capuchin Bernardo da Corleone (1605-1667), the Spanish nun Blesses Paola of St. Joseph Calasanzio (1799- 1889), and the Lebanese nun Blessed Rebecca (1832- 1914). Blessed Rebecca will be the first Lebanese native to be canonized.

On July 3, The Holy Father named Auxiliary Bishop James Tamayo of Glaveston-Houston to be the first bishop of Laredo. The bishop was born in Brownsville, Texas, in 1949 and ordained a priest in Corpus Christi in 1976.

On July 6, the Vatican office charged with the interpretation of Church law has reaffirmed that Catholics who are divorced and remarried should not receive Holy Communion.

Also on July 6, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Square for nearly 30,000 Polish Catholics, as he led his countrymen in the celebration of their Jubilee pilgrimage.

A commission of Catholic and Orthodox representatives on Tuesday ended a meeting that began on July 9 to discuss issues separating the Churches, but made it clear that much works remains to be done before unity becomes a reality.

On Sunday, September 3, Pope John-Paul II Solemnly beatified: Pope Pius IX and Pope John XXIII. On the same day, the Holy Father also beatified Tommaso Reggio, an Archbishop of Genoa of the 19th century and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Martha; French priest Fr. Guillaume Joseph Chaminade, founder in the same century of the Marianist Family; and Irish Benedictine Fr. Columba Marmion, great master of spirituality of our time.

Pope John Paul II, published a declaration: Dominus Jesus. This is a brief but very clear re-affirmation of what the Church has always believed and taught about Jesus as the one and only Savior of all humankind and of the Church of Christ whose fullness is found in the Roman Catholic Church. In the process of re-affirming these truths all of which were solemnly stated at the Second Vatican Council, the Declaration points out errors that some Catholic theologians have been publicizing, errors which have had a negative effect on the life of the Church, and on ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.

On October 1, Despite the rain that fell on St. Peter's Square, some 80,000 people gathered there on Sunday for ceremonies marking the canonization of 120 Chinese martyrs and three religious women, Josephine Bakhita, Katherine Drexel, and Maria of the Heart of Jesus Sancho de Guerra.

As Archbishop Giovanni Battista greeted the largest group of bishops to assemble in Rome since Vatican II, over 1,400, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops said that pastors should "touch hearts and transmit a lively experience of mystery" in their preaching.

In response to the Food and Drug Administration’s Sept. 28 approval of the RU-486 pill, Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul, Minnesota, released this statement Oct. 4: "The FDA’s recent approval of Mifeprex (its chemical name is mifepristone) or the RU-486 pill, marks a sad time for our nation. Not only does the approval of chemical abortion further numb our consciences to the violence of abortion and the taking of a human life, it also means the women who use RU-486 risk serious emotional and deadly physical side effects. Now more than ever before, we must pray, educate ourselves and work toward educating the public at large of the dangers RU-486 presents to the moral and physical well-being of our society."

Bishop Francois Garnier of Lucon, France, introduced a formal request on October 13 to Pope John-Paul II to name St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort a Doctor of the Church.

Pope John Paul II appointed a new archbishop for Washington, DC, on Tuesday, November 21 as he accepted the resignation of Cardinal James Hickey who turned 80 last month. Cardinal Hickey will be succeeded by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark, New Jersey, who is 70 years old and has headed the Newark archdiocese since 1986.

On November 22, At a meeting with members of an organization dedicated to the abolition of usury, Pope John Paul II said that usury is "a distressing phenomenon" and a "pitiless exploitation of the needs of others" with 'tragic social implications."

On November 27, in an exceptional appointment, Pope John Paul II has named an Eastern-rite prelate as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Eastern Churches. Patriarch Ignace Moussa Daoud I of Antioch, the leader of the Syrian Catholic Church, will replace Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, who is resigning at the age of 77. The appointment of an Eastern Catholic leader is seen as indication of the importance which Pope John Paul places on the proper development of the Eastern traditions. The Pope has frequently emphasized the role of that tradition by saying that the Church must breath "with both lungs."

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

In his annual message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope John Paul II urges all Christians to "consider life as a vocation."

The Holy See has signed a "fundamental accord" with the government of Slovakia, setting out the juridical position of the Catholic Church and ensuring the religious freedoms of her faithful.