NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Plans have been set in place to mark the 20th anniversary of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II with a solemn Eucharistic liturgy in St. Peter's Square on October 18.

      Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was actually elected Pope on October 16, 1978; and his pontificate formally began with his installation on October 22.

      Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for the Rome diocese and the president of the Italian bishops' conference, has sent a message to all the bishops of Italy, inviting them-- and through them, the faithful of their dioceses-- to participate in the celebration.

      The celebration will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Pope's consecration of a bishop, which took place on September 28, 1958. He was nominated to the episcopacy on July 4 of that year by Pope Pius XII. He was named Archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI in 1964, and elevated to the College of Cardinals by the same pontiff in 1967.