“John Paul II is like an older brother who guides us and teaches us from the cross of his illness”, says Cardinal Carlos Amigo Vallejo, archbishop of Seville (Spain), who has expressed to SIR his good wishes for the Pope’s health. The cardinal recalls that the whole “Church of Seville is anxious about the health of the Holy Father. We combine our prayer for his speedy recovery with our admiration for the example of Christian fortitude and trust in the Lord that the Pope is giving us all”. “Despite human weakness and limitations he adds we can see how the Holy Spirit is always accompanying the Pope with his gifts”. John Paul II, he concludes, “is offering us the finest of his teachings: fidelity to the Lord and to his ministry as successor of Peter”. Meanwhile the vice-president and secretary of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (Archbishop Fernando Sebastian Aguilar of Pamplona and Msgr. Juan Antonio Martinez Camino) met representatives of the Spanish government on 2 March, “tackling questions of common interest” and recognising “the wish that exists on both sides to contribute to constructive dialogue”. The participants in the meeting, says an official communiqué of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, “demonstrated their willingness to give continuity to open dialogue, and to maintain a relation based on reciprocal respect and a desire for good understanding and agreement”.
