PASTORAL VISIT TO THE ISLAND OF ISCHIA

REMARKS OF JOHN PAUL II AT THE END OF THE
FRATERNAL AGAPE WITH THE CARDINAL OF NAPLES,
THE ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF CAMPANIA

Episcopal Residence in Ischia
Sunday, 5 May 2002

There is a proverb that says "repetition is the mother of learning". This time the proverb does not refer to academics but refers first of all to the Pope and then to the Church of God in Campania.

I have had many opportunities to get to know these Churches through the ad limina visits and my pastoral visits to some of your dioceses. Nonetheless, it has been useful and timely to come back to Campania. Little has remained as it was before, and some persons are no longer here. Let us think of them all with gratitude.

There is also another proverb that says:  "Beautiful things seen over and over again create constant delight". However, we must always find a new viewpoint, a more interesting angle from which to admire them. My visit to this diocese gives me an opportunity to admire the beauty of your region and of this island; to enjoy the harmony between earth and heaven; to reach out and touch the wonders of nature, of the people, of popular devotion.

I thank you for all this, and I give you my prayerful best wishes. These are my wishes for all of you:  "Repetition is the mother of learning"; "Beautiful things seen over and over again create constant delight".