NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- In a new apostolic letter which will be published next week, Pope John Paul II discusses the theological and canonical status of episcopal conferences.

      The new document, which will be known as Apostolos Suos, will be presented to the press on July 23 at a news conference in Rome, with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger presiding.

      Meanwhile during his brief vacation, Pope John Paul II visited the town of Borno, Italy, for his Sunday Angelus audience and issued a message to people who are "far from the Church, or non-believers."

      Surrounded by a dense crowd-- estimated by some observers at 30,000-- in the small town at the foot of the Alps, the Holy Father urged the non-believers who might hear his words: "Don't be afraid to search for God."

      The Pope arrived in the town by helicopter, and was greeted by Bishop Bruno Foresti of the local Brescia diocese. He noted that this was the birthplace of Archbishop Giovanni Re, the Vatican official whom he praised as "my very near and dear collaborator." It is also a town where Archbishop Giovanni Battista Montini-- later to be Pope Paul VI-- often spent vacations with his parents, and where that pope celebrated his first Mass after his priestly ordination in 1920.

      The Pope urged the residents of the region to pray for their young people, that they might follow the example of the pontiff who arose from their midst, and that many might follow "the example of his firm adherence to the Lord on the road of priesthood or consecrated life."

      Several times during his visit, the Pope stopped to admire the view of the mountains that surround the village.