CARDINAL SODANO CELEBRATES MASS FOR PEACE IN GUATEMALA

VATICAN CITY, JAN 16, 1997 (VIS) - Yesterday morning in the Vatican's Pauline Chapel, Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, in the presence of priests from Guatemala and other countries, celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving for the recently signed peace accords in Guatemala.

Bishop Cipriano Calderon Polo, vice president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and other prelates of the Secretariat of State, were also among the concelebrants. In attendance were the ambassadors to the Holy See from Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia and the United States.

Cardinal Sodano highlighted several passages from Pope John Paul's December 17, 1996, letter to the president of Guatemala, saying that the new-found peace "is certainly a gift of God and fruit of dialogue" and "therefore, is really a moment of grace for the Guatemalan people."

He also spoke of the urgency of peace in the world and its fragility in many places, and of the need for pardon in order "to come out of situations marked by old and violent hatreds."
SS/PEACE GUATEMALA/SODANO VIS 970116 (190)