Travels.

Rome--At 79, John Paul II continues indefatigably to strengthen the ties of unity within and without the Church. On September 4 he travelled to the Italian city of Salerno, south of Naples. On September 19 he crossed the Adriatic Sea to visit Slovenia for the beatification of the nineteenth-century Bishop of Maribor (1800-1862). Now he is preparing for the Synod of European Bishops which will meet in Rome October 1-23.

During the same month of October, the Holy Father plans a three-day visit to Tiflis, the capital of Georgia, one of the new states reborn in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Following the visit to Romania last May, this would be the second visit to a predominantly Orthodox country. On August 15, the late nineteenth-century Catholic Church of the Assumption there was reconsecrated after having been expropriated and used as a sports gymnasium during the Soviet regime.

The invitation to visit Georgia was made by President Edward Chevernadze earlier, but is now supported by the Orthodox hierarchy. Georgia has a population of five million of whom four/fifths belong to the Orthodox Church.

On November 5 the Holy Father will arrive in New Delhi, India, for a four- day visit with India's 141 bishops and with the bishops who participated in the 1998 Asian Synod. The Christian population of India is 21 million, of whom 17 million are Catholics of several different rites. The Pope will solemnly close the Synod of Asia and issue the document Ecciesia in Asia. The scheduled trip to Hong Kong has been cancelled.