Page 1, 4th October 2002
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BY TRACY-JO SMITH
JOHN PAUL II has recruited French actor Gerard Depardieu as an ambassador of the Church by encouraging him to promote the teachings of St Augustine of Hippo. While in Rome for the premiere of his latest film, Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, the actor met the Pope, who remarked upon his likeness to the early Church Father, author of The Confessions. "As soon as I entered the room, the Holy Father said: `But that's St Augustine'," Depardieu told Italy's Avvenire newspaper. The Pope then asked the actor to "spread the word of Christianity". St Augustine was born in the Roman province of Numidia in north Africa in 354. At the age of 28 he discovered God, after leading a hedonistic, dissolute life, fathering a son by his mistress. He travelled to Milan, where he came under the influence of St Ambrose and, as vividly described in The Confessions, became a Christian. His most famous remark is possibly: "Lord, give me chastity, but not yet." He journeyed to Africa to become Bishop of Hippo and became one of the great expo nents of Christian thought and doctrine, not least on sex and marriage. A lifelong Catholic, Depardieu said that like St Augustine, he was a one-time rebel and "wild child" who had rediscovered his faith. The actor said he would start by giving public readings of The Confessions at the saint's birthplace at Thagaste, in modern day Algeria, before going to "other cities around the world".
John Ryan: Page 9
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