OVERVIEW OF THE PONTIFICATE OF VATICAN CITY, 1999 (VIS)
JANUARY 1999:
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
POPE JOHN PAUL II:
THE YEAR OF 1999 -
We present a synthesis of the important events of the year 1999-:
Friday, 1:
Celebration of the 32nd World Day of Peace.
The theme of Pope John Paul's peace day Message for 1999 was:
"Respect for Human Rights, The Secret of True Peace."
Wednesday, 6:
Pope ordains nine bishops in St. Peter's Basilica.
Friday, 8:
Audience for Massimo D'Alema, president of Italy's Council
of Ministers.
Saturday, 9:
Publication of papal Message for 14th World Youth Day
(Palm Sunday, March 28).
Theme: "The Father Loves You."
Visit by Japanese Prime Minister, Keizo Obuchi.
Sunday, 10:
Baptism conferred on 19 infants in Sistine Chapel.
Monday, 11:
Holy Father's annual discourse to diplomatic corps,
Friday, 15:
Audience for Pandeli Majko, president of Council of
Ministers of Albania.
Monday, 18:
Visit by President Leonel Fernandez Reyna of the Dominican
Republic.
Start of Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Thursday, 21:
In audience to Roman Rota, Pope said that attributing a
'conjugal' reality to de facto unions is "incongruous."
Friday, 22:
John Paul II leaves on 85th foreign pastoral visit: to
Mexico City, Mexico and St. Louis, U.S.A. to close Synod
for America.
Pope signs and dates Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia in America."
Presents it to bishops the following day.
Tuesday, 26:
Pope John Paul and U.S. President Bill Clinton meet upon Pope's arrival in St. Louis, U.S.A. Presentation of new rite of exorcism of the Roman Book of Rites (from Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments).
Thursday, 28:
Papal appeal for clemency saves life of prisoner in U.S.
Friday, 29:
Publication of Message for 33rd World Day of Communications,
to be celebrated May 16.
Tuesday, 2:
Mass in St. Peter's for Third World Day of Consecrated Life.
Thursday, 4:
Holy See and Israel sign "Legal Personality Agreement."
Monday, 8:
New Hungarian Ambassador, Pal Tar, presents Letters of Credence.
Holy See Press Office issues final report on 1998 Swiss Guard deaths.
Thursday, 11:
70th anniversary of founding of Vatican City State.
Friday, 12:
Pope and bishops of Laos, Cambodia meet together for first time.
Bishops are in Rome for "ad limina" visit.
Friday, 19:
Audience to Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority.
Saturday, 20:
Pope receives Jason C. Hu, foreign affairs minister of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
Monday, 1:
Announcement that Pope has given permission to start the cause of beatification for Mother Teresa of Calcutta, dispensing from norm which states that five years must pass between person's death and start of cause.
Thursday, 11:
Audience for Seyyed Mohammad Khatami: first visit by a president of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Pope John Paul.
Friday, 12:
First bilateral accord between Holy See and Estonia is signed.
Friday, 19:
Holy See delegation returns from Vietnam.
Saturday, 20:
Visit by president of Colombia, Andres Pastrana-Arango.
Tuesday, 23:
Report that papal charities, through Pontifical Council
"Cor Unum", distributed $21.5 million in 1998.
Thursday, 25:
Pope receives President Robert Kotcharian of Armenia, and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore in separate audiences.
Holy See statement on NATO bombings of Yugoslavia, which began last evening.
Monday, 29:
Pope and Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro meet.
Tuesday, 30:
High level Vatican meeting studies Kosovo crisis:
includes ambassadors to Holy See from NATO member countries and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
Thursday, 1:
Statement on today's mission to Belgrade by Archbishop Jean- Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States.
Sunday, 4: Easter.
Pope writes Letter to Artists:
published on April 23 in eight languages.
Tuesday, 6:
Holy See intervention on Kosovo, in Geneva at U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Humanitarian Issues Working Group.
Wednesday, 7:
Audience for U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadak Ogata.
Friday, 9:
Death of Cardinal Raul Silva Henriquez, 91, emeritus of Santiago de Chile.
Sunday, 18:
Papal Letter to His Holiness Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias, on the occasion of the latter's trip to Belgrade to find peaceful solution to Kosovo conflict.
Thursday, 22:
Pope welcomes President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen of Guatemala.
Sunday, 25:
Pope ordains as priests 31 deacons from diocese of Rome.
Monday, 26:
Visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon.
Tuesday, 27:
Pope writes U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on eve of Annan's departure for Europe to seek peace in Yugoslavia.
Thursday, 29:
Holy See and Cook Islands establish diplomatic ties.
Sunday, 2:
Capuchin Padre Pio of Pietrelcina is beatified.
Friday, 7:
Pope departs for three-day trip to Romania:
86th foreign apostolic trip. Includes meeting with Orthodox Patriarch
Teoctist. Pope participates in Orthodox liturgy, and Patriarch in
Catholic liturgy.
Saturday, 8:
New York Times editorial page carries article by Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls on Holy See position vis-a-vis Kosovo conflict.
Monday, 10:
Pope welcomes Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova. Rugova holds press conference in Holy See Press Office.
Wednesday, 12:
Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) document,
"The Gift of Authority."
Friday, 14:
Pope welcomes Iraqi delegation
led by Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid of Babylon of the Chaldeans.
Tuesday, 18:
John Paul II turns 79. He welcomes German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder.
Sunday, 23: Pentecost
Three priests ordained in Russia, the first in 82 years.
Pope's Message for 73rd World Mission Day on October 24, 1999 is made public, the theme is the "Our Father."
Tuesday, 25:
Visit by Mayor Yuri Mikhailovic Luzhkov of Moscow.
Vatican issues stamp whose proceeds go to victims of Balkans war.
Pope travels to Ancona, 135th trip within Italy.
JUNE
Thursday, 3:
John Paul II receives U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Papal Letter to German bishops on Catholic Family Consultants.
Saturday, 5:
Pope leaves for Poland, his 87th foreign pastoral trip. Until June 17.
Friday, 11:
Warsaw, Poland: Pope's first ever address to a national
parliament.
Geneva, Switzerland: Cardinal Edward Cassidy participates in Catholic-Lutheran press conference on Doctrine of Justification.
Saturday, 12:
Warsaw: Pope falls in nunciature, suffers cut on right temple.
Tuesday, 15:
Warsaw: Pope, feverish, postpones day's engagements.
Thursday, 17:
Cardinal George Basil Hume, O.S.B., archbishop of Westminster, dies at age 76.
Thursday, 24:
Address to Knights of Malta, celebrating ninth centenary.
Tuesday, 29:
Palliums conferred on 37 metropolitan archbishops.
At angelus, Pope announces desire to visit Holy Land during Jubilee Year 2000.
Holy Father's Letter on "Pilgrimages to the Places Linked to the History of Salvation" (published June 30).
Patriarch Karekin I, Catholicos of all Armenians, dies.
Pope's letter to patriarch, bearing the same date, is published July 8. day of funeral.
JULY 1999
Thursday, 1:
Message for World Youth Day 2000.
Sunday, 4:
Dedication of new shrine of Divine Love in Rome.
Wednesday, 7:
Holy Father departs for vacation in Les Combes, Italy.
Until July 20.
Thursday, 8:
Holy See announces 1998 surplus of $1.5 million.
Note is published by Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on the authentic interpretation of canons dealing with care of Eucharist.
Monday, 12:
Publication of "Instrumentum laboris" of Second Synod for
Europe.
Tuesday, 13:
Publication of Notification from Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in which two religious in U.S. are "permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons."
Pope approved Notification on May 14.
Monday, 19:
Diplomatic Relations with the Lesser Antilles.
Saturday, 24:
Telegram to His Majesty Mohammed VI, the new king of Morocco, on the death of his father, King Hassan II.
.../HIGHLIGHTS/... VIS 990730 (1170)
© by Grace Soileau