NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- During his Angelus audience on Sunday, June 20, Pope John Paul II offered prayers for peace in Europe, "which still bears the bloody wounds of the recent conflict in Yugoslavia," and in Asia, especially India and Pakistan. The Pope also gave his audience some reflections on his recent trip to Poland.

      "Let us all pray that we can consolidate the peace process in Europe," the Pope urged his listeners. He said that "only the gospel of love and peace which comes from God can bring about solidarity and peaceful accord among individuals and peoples." While he concentrated particularly on the Balkan crisis, he added a request for prayers for India and Pakistan, "where peace is gravely endangered." He asked for prayers that those two countries would "in the immediate future, do everything possible to stop the fighting, which brings violence and death."

      His 13-day trip through his native Poland had been "an unforgettable experience of faith and fraternity," the Pontiff said. He thanked everyone who had been involved in planning the trip or in helping to make it successful by meeting and praying with him. And he sad that the warmth of the crowds throughout Poland had moved and encouraged him,

      The Holy Father's Sunday audience was his first public appearance following his return from Poland. He had been scheduled to bless a new shrine of Divine Love just outside Rome, but that event was postponed for two weeks in order to give him more time to rest and recover from a bout with the flu.

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