VATICAN CITY, FEB 3 (ZENIT).- The Jubilee of the Year 2000 will not forget those pilgrims who lack material means. Today, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, dedicated a dining room for the poor adjacent to St. Peter's Square, thus launching "The Pope's Charity for the Jubilee."

    The initiative entails the distribution of 500 free lunches a day to needy persons in areas adjacent to the four patriarchal Basilicas of Rome. The dining room that is adjacent to St. Peter's Square in the Vatican is the largest; it has the capacity to distribute 200 meals daily.

    Over the next few days the dining rooms adjacent to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major, and St. John Lateran will be opened. Each one of these dining rooms will offer 100 meals daily.

    The time of service is from 12 noon to 2 p.m. In general, the beneficiaries will have a hot lunch, most likely of pasta, a drink, and dessert.

    The initiative was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the St. Peter's Circle -- an institution that has helped pilgrims in Rom since the 1800s -- and the sponsorship of Italian firms in the food business.

    As he mentioned last Saturday, John Paul II is convinced that "the testimony of charity is the greatest prophecy of our times." ZE00020309