NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II will make an official visit to Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro on October 20. The meeting will take place at the Quirinal-- the presidential palace, named for the section of Rome where it stands.

      It is traditional that a new president of Italy visits the Vatican soon after his election, and the Pope eventually returns the visit. The visits are marked by a formal address by each leader, and an exchange of symbolic gifts. The Holy See has no similar tradition for an exchange of visits with other heads of state.

      President Scalfaro came to the Vatican on November 22, 1992, but to date Pope John Paul II has not returned the visit. Scalfaro's term will expire in June 1999.

      The visit, a clear indication of good will, comes at a time when relations between the Italian government and the Holy See have been tested by the government's search of the offices of Naples Cardinal Michele Giordano-- a search which Vatican officials protested, saying it was a violation of the concordat which governs church-state relations in Italy. Vatican officials have also been pressing the government for more favorable treatment of Catholic schools.