(VIS) - E-mail has been pouring in from around the world for Pope John Paul since the Vatican’s Web site posted an address in each of its six language versions (john_paul_ii@vatican.va). Letters in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and German have been arriving daily for the Holy Father, wishing him well, a speedy recovery and a prompt return to his ministry as Pope and Bishop of Rome. From March 1 to noon of March 3, according to statistics and sample letters released March 5, over 20,000 e-mail messages arrived for the Pope: about 10,000 in English, 6,077 in Spanish, 2,012 in Portuguese, 1,134 in Italian, 850 in German and 800 in French. Many messages in the Pope’s native Polish also arrive daily. While these numbers are only for a two-day period, they represent just a portion of mail arriving for the Holy Father.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has identified more than one hundred issues of major importance in the 109th Congress. Those issues that are likely to be given serious attention by Congress will command the most attention and the USCCB will devote all appropriate lobbying efforts, nationally and locally, to help enact or defeat related legis-lation. The agenda is derived from the moral and social teachings of the church. Key elements include the commit-ment of the church in advancing respect for all human life including the provision of alternatives to abortion; providing health, welfare, and education services;immigration, refugee and international relief and development services at home and around the world; and ensuring a religious presence in mass communications while supporting constitutional efforts to reduce children’s exposure to violent, indecent and/or obscene radio and television programming. The legislative program was approved March 15 at a meeting of the USCCB Administrative Committee.

All of the issues in the legislative program flow from church teaching as expressed in encyclicals and other documents from the Holy See as well as policies established by the bishops over the course of many years.The list of legislative issues is available on request by contacting the USCCB Office of Government Liaison, (202) 541-3140; OGL@USCCB.org