NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      RIO DE JANEIRO (CWNews.com) - The Ministry of Culture in Argentina announced that President Carlos Saul Menem has been invited by Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera and the Vatican's Nuncio in Mexico, Justo Mullor Garcia, to participate in Pope John Paul's visit to Mexico scheduled for January 22-26.

      The letter invited President Menem as a guest of honor for the Mass which the Holy Father will celebrate on January 23 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in which a post-synodal Apostolic Letter will be officially presented to the bishops of America.

      Menem was also invited to participate officially at the "Meeting with All Generations" to take place at the Azteca Stadium on the evening of January 25. Archbishop Estanislao Karlic, president of the Argentine Bishops' Conference, said that the invitation to President Menem "must be seen in the Continental nature of the gathering," and that "it is more addressed to the nation, represented in the figure of the President, than to a particular person."

      The Ministry of Culture has not yet confirmed if President Menem will attend the visit, but said that the President is "delighted by the invitation."