Vatican City (Fides Service) - At 12 noon on Sunday 30 March, 4th Sunday of Lent, the Holy Father Pope John Paul II came as usual to his study window to recite the Angelus prayer with the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square. Before the leading the prayer, the Pope announced the publication of his latest encyclical letter on the Eucharist, and he entrusted to Our Lady the cause of peace in Iraq and in the whole world. " <God so loved the world as to give his only Son…>. This is what took place in the sacrifice on Calvary: for us Christ died and rose from the dead, sealing with his blood the new and lasting Covenant with humanity. Of this supreme witness of love the sacrament of the Eucharist is the perennial memorial. Through the Eucharist Jesus, the Bread of life and true <manna>, sustains believers in their journey across the <desert> of history towards the <promised land> of Heaven (cfr Jn 6,32-25). Precisely to the theme of the Eucharist, I decided to devote the Encyclical which, on the occasion of Holy Thursday, God willing, I will sign during the Mass of the Lord's Supper. I will consign it symbolically to priests instead of the Letter which for that occasion I usually address to them and, through them, to the whole people of God".
The Pope entrusted to Our Lady the publication of this latest papal document and he urged those present to pray to Mary "for the victims of the wars being waged. We invoke with heartfelt and confident insistence her intercession for peace in Iraq and in every other region of the world." See complete text at www.fides.org SL (Fides Service 31/3/2003 EM lines 24 Words: 317)