NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The Holy Spirit appears in the Old Testament as creator, active in the history of the Chosen People; in the New Testament he emerges as a divine person "distinct from the Father and the Son." That was the lesson Pope John Paul II taught at his weekly audience on Wednesday, May 20.

      Citing his own encyclical on the Holy Spirit, Dominum et Vivificantem, the Holy Father recalled some of the references to the Spirit in the Old Testament: the citations of "wind" and "breath" in the process of creation. He said that the Spirit was mentioned more than 100 times in the Old Testament, usually as the source of historic developments.

      In the New Testament, "the revelation of the Holy Spirit as a person distinct from the Father and the Son-- already foreshadowed in the Old Testament-- is made clear and explicit," the Pope said. He noted that the Gospel of St. Luke is particular rich in references to the Spirit, and that the epistles of St. Paul make it clear that the work of the Holy Spirit is essential to all evangelization.