Pope to receive Italian and Polish soccer players on Tuesday

Vatican City, Nov 9, 2003 / 22:00 pm

This Tuesday at the Vatican Pope John Paul II will receive in audience a group of Italian and Polish soccer players, who will be playing a game the next day in Varsovia.

The audience with the Holy Father was requested by the Italian Soccer Federation, which wanted to "convey the best wishes of the world of soccer to the Pope for the 25th anniversary of his Pontificate."

Bishops in Paraguay demand Christian consistency to bring morals to country ASUNCION - Meeting at their general assembly, the Bishops Conference of Paraguay analyzed the pastoral work of the Church in the country and called  on Catholics to live their faith consistently to bring about a transformation in society.

"Much work has been done in evangelization and yet our society does not move forward.  95 percent of our people are Catholic and yet we are unable to rid out corruption.  We prepare leaders to bring about change in politics, and yet politics corrupts them," said the spokesman for the conference, Bishop Zacarías Ortiz.

Bishop Ortiz said the crisis, which is taking place in all aspects of society, is a challenge to the bishops.  "We see that Christians are being swallowed up by this atmosphere," he said.

According to the spokesman, the index of corruption in our country reveals "we are more corrupt than many non-Christian countries."  The problem lies in the lack of Christian witness, Bishop Ortiz said.  "It's not that we are unorganized because we have movements that work for change, but they are not strong.  This means evangelization is weak," the Bishop concluded.