VATICAN, Jan. 11, 01 (CWNews.com) -- Assessing the impact of the Jubilee year, Pope John Paul II has said, "Nothing will ever be the same again."

    The Pope spoke on Thursday to 500 people who had participated in the planning of the Holy Year, at an audience in the Vatican. The group included both Vatican officials who had worked with the special committee organizing the Jubilee and civil and police officials from Rome.

    While the Church's liturgical calendar now indicates that we are in "Ordinary Time," the Holy Father said, no one should forget "the style of life and the organizational work" that the Jubilee involved for everyone who took part in the celebration.

    "You have been given a precious heritage, which should be passed along to future generations," the Pope said. That heritage entails two central principles, he continued. First, "put Christ at the center of personal and social life." Second, "bear the witness of charity through pardon, service, receptiveness, and sharing."

    The Pope thanked both the Vatican officials and the Italian authorities for their cooperation in the Jubilee, paying special tribute to a joint Italian- Vatican planning board.

For other news stories, see

January 11, 2001
volume 12, no. 11
News from the Vatican

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