The annual American Bishops’ Overseas Appeal to be held in most U.S. Catholic dioceses the weekend of March 29-30, 2003 supports agencies that build the international social ministry of the Catholic Church through advocacy on behalf of powerless and impoverished people and relief and resettlement services to victims of earthquakes, floods, war, disease and religious and ethnic persecution. The appeal benefits four agencies of the Catholic Church: Catholic Relief Services; Migration and Refugee Services; the Department of Social Development and World Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; and the Holy Father’s Relief Fund. In 2002, the Appeal raised more than $14 million. The theme of the 2003 appeal is Jesus in Disguise.

In a reflection for the Feast of the Presentation on February 2, the Holy Father said that "certain commercial logic, allying itself with modern technologies, can sometimes profit from human desires that are good in themselves, such as that of wanting to become a mother and father, to induce someone to have a child ‘at all costs’. In reality, human life can never become an ‘object’: from conception to natural death, the human being is the subject of inviolable rights, that even freedom must not trespass. It is therefore indispensable that States, on such complex issues, pass organic and clear laws, founded on solid ethical bases and caring for the inestimable good of human life."

(VIS) The following statement was released February 22 by Holy See Press Office Director, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, on the audience that Pope John Paul granted to British Prime Minister Tony Blair: "This morning, Saturday February 22, 2003, the Holy Father received in a private audience Tony Blair, prime minister of Great Britain. In the course of the cordial conversation which lasted half an hour, they spoke about the complex international situation with particular regard to the Middle East. The Holy Father expressed the hope that, in solving the grave situation in Iraq, every effort be made to avoid new divisions in the world.

"The Holy Father then received Mr. Blair's family.

"The prime minister of Great Britain also met with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of State, who received him together with Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States.

"During conversations in the Vatican, it was reaffirmed that all interested parties in the Iraqi crisis need to collaborate with the Organization of the United Nations and know how to use the resources offered by international law in order to avert the tragedy of war that many sides consider avoidable. Special consideration was given to the humanitarian

situation of the Iraq people, already so severely tried by the long years of embargo.

"In the course of the meetings, there was an exchange of opinions on the future Constitutional Treaty of Europe. The Holy See expressed its wish for the explicit recognition of churches and communities of believers, as well as a commitment by the European Union to maintain a structured dialogue with them."