NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN CITY (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II appointed a new apostolic nuncio to the United States on Monday to replace Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan who will return to the Vatican.

      Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, 68, is originally from Colombia and is now the rector of the Vatican's diplomatic school. His previous diplomatic posts included time as nuncio in Yugoslavia. In addition to acting as ambassador to the US, the archbishop will also be the Vatican's observer at the Organization of American States.

      The day before during his regular weekly public audience on Sunday, December 6, Pope John Paul II said that the contents of his latest encyclical, Fides et Ratio, "concern everyone." For that reason, he said, he would review the argument of the encyclical in coming Sunday audiences.

      The central focus of the encyclical, the Pope explained, is on "the search for truth," which is "an inevitable and proper need for every human being." In an age when the sheer volume of information threatens to overpower the more pressing need to discern fundamental truths, he continued, it is particularly important to recover the love for wisdom which is the basis for all true philosophy--indeed, the meaning of the very word "philosophy."

      There is no cause for fear in the search for truth, the Pope said. Thus the Church must always encourage the proper use of reason.