NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- At his weekly public audience today, Pope John Paul II spoke of the "victims of violence" around the world, and especially the five missionaries who have been killed in recent days, whose lives he characterized as "generous witness to the Gospel."

      During the remainder of the summer, the Pope will commute by helicopter from his summer residence at Castel Gandalfo to the Vatican-- a distance of roughly 18 miles-- for his regular Wednesday audience. He followed that route today, addressing the audience in the Paul VI Hall.

      The Holy Father mentioned the three Missionaries of Charity who were killed in Yemen on Monday, the Franciscan nun who was found dead in South Africa, and the Jesuit priest assassinated in the Congo. Then, enlarging his scope, the Pope offered a prayer for all victims of violence.

      The Vatican news agency Fides reported that the Yemeni health minister had reacted immediately to the killing of three nuns by expressing the government's condolences, and ordering a full investigation. But the government provided no details about the circumstances of the shootings.

      In South Africa, Sister Theodelinde Scherck, a German missionary, was found dead today in woods near Durban, several hours after her car had been found abandoned nearby. She had apparently been the victim of a carjacking incident; that crime has become more common in South Africa recently.

      Father Michel Albecq, SJ, was killed on Tuesday evening at his mission in Brazzaville, Congo. He had only recently returned to the mission after a vacation in his native France.

      The theme of his weekly catechetical audience, was that the Holy Spirit inspires Christians to work for full unity within the Church.

      There can be no conflict between the "charismatic" and "institutional" aspects of the Church, properly understood, the Pope said. Both aspects of ecclesial life involve the workings of the Holy Spirit-- sometimes direct, and sometimes mediated through the institution. But under both aspects, the Church is always "striving to build ever stronger lines of communion, recognizing that we need one another, and that we can enrich each other by the gifts which the Holy Spirit gives us for the good of all."