Good wishes on behalf of all the French bishops and the Catholics of France were expressed to the Pope by the president of the French Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Jean Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux. “On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of your pontificate writes Msgr. Ricard to the Pope I wish to express to you my most respectful good wishes, combined with those of all those who are concerned by your health and who pray for you on this anniversary. We give thanks to God for all that the Lord has achieved in these twenty-five years. We think with gratitude of these years in which you have led the Church towards the third millennium, of the pastoral visits you have made to France and of World Youth Day in Paris in 1997″. “These visits the letter concludes have renewed the courage of our diocesan churches to preach the Gospel and restored to many baptised the pride of being disciples of Christ”.
