NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Greeting a group of US bishops who had traveled to Rome from their ad limina visit, Pope John Paul repeated his insistence that the growth of lay movements constitutes an "extraordinary and surprising new springtime of the Church."

      The newly emerging groups manifest "the dynamism of the faith. living hope, and charity" stimulated by the Holy Spirit among the laity, the Holy Father said. His remarks came in a meeting with bishops from Minnesota and the Dakotas, one week after a dramatic meeting in Rome in which he had greeted thousands of members of lay movements.

      "The new evangelization which could make the 21st century a springtime for the Church is the task of the entire people of God," the Pope said; "but it will depends in a decisive way on the manner in which the lay faithful are conscious of their baptismal vocation and their responsibility to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to their culture and their society."

      The task of bishops, the Pope continued, is to teach, sanctify, and govern in ways that will help the lay people to develop and exploit their evangelical abilities.

      Addressing himself to several questions which have provoked problems for the Church in the United States, the Pope also called upon the bishops to encourage faithful obedience to the Church teaching on artificial contraception. The American people have special "need to listen" to that teaching, he said, because of the "false promises of the sexual revolution" which have produced so much suffering in society. He also encouraged the bishops to follow the recent Vatican directive on the proper limits of lay ministry, especially in the celebration of the liturgy.