NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II on Friday met with the participants in a chapter general for the Society of St. Paul, and encouraged the members of that religious order to maintain the charisms of their founder.

      Don Giacomo Alberione, the founder of the Society, had often told his follower, "Your parish is the world." Taking up that phrase, the Holy Father pointed out, "Your parish is the Pope's parish."

      Last year, in an effort to resolve tensions within the order, the Pope had appointed Msgr. Antonio Buoncristiani as his delegate to head the Society until a new leader could be elected. The publications sponsored by the order had drawn protests from Church authorities, in particular from Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the president of the Italian bishops' conference, because of editorial stands that seemed to conflict with Church teachings.

      "The time has now come," the Pope said, "to confront and resolve difference in a spirit of faith." He also urged the delegates to keep "a constant reference to the magisterium of the Church."

      The Pope recalled that Don Alberione had envisioned a religious order based on the Eucharist, the Gospel, prayer, and the use of modern means of evangelization. The same basic outlook, he said, should motivate the order at the dawn of the 21st century.