NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      MIAMI, 24 (NE) More than one thousand people gathered at San Jose de Las Lajas, a Cuban town located 30 miles from Havana, to receive the "Cross of Reconciliation". The pilgrimage began with a Eucharistic celebration presided by Cardinal Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana.

      Early in the morning, people from several bordering towns gathered at the town's square, which was filled with the presence of youth with Christ 's image stamped on their shirts, and by children that carried small crucifixes in their hands. The "Cross of Reconciliation" will remain in San Jose until today morning.

      This cross, three meters high and one meter wide, will travel through 191 different places in the Archdiocese of Havana as part of a preparation program in order to receive the 2000 celebration of the birth of the Savior with converted hearts. Similar pilgrimages are being carried out in the dioceses of Pinar del Rio and Camagüey.

      To the east in Santo Domingo, in view of recent acts of violence registered in the Dominican Republic, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez requested people to "do all that one is able to in order to prevent this true calamity that we are living".

      Upon presiding the Mass of closure of the V Catholic Fair of Communications in the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Archbishop of Santo Domingo affirmed that "we are going to make a silent campaign, that is much more effective than all the screaming. An intense, constant campaign of prayer, so that all those hearts that are volcanoes that aim to kill, may be pacified and depose those attitudes".

      The Cardinal also pointed out the important role that mass media play in promoting a culture of peace. Regarding this he pointed out the necessity of looking at the new millennium with hope, trusting that in mass media there will be people willing to work so that the "promise prevail over the menace, the true communication over alienation". "In that way it will assure a world in which the Church and the media may work together for the common good of humanity", he affirmed.

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