CHRISTMAS MASS AT ZAGREB CATHEDRAL

ZAGREB, Dec 25 (Hina) - The Cardinal Archbishop of Zagreb, Franjo Kuharic, celebrated a solemn mass at the Zagreb cathedral on Christmas Day. Present were the President of the Croatian Parliament, Vlatko Pavletic, the Pope's nunzio, Giulio Einaudi, and senior government and military officials. Wishing the whole congregation a merry and blessed Christmas, Cardinal Kuharic delivered a homily focused on the subject of human freedom. "Why has God created man as a free being, knowing that man would often use that freedom to turn against Him and against his own self?" the Archbishop asked. "God is freedom, for He is love, from that freedom He has created and maintained the world," he said. "The whole point of human freedom is to accept God and respond with love to His love; otherwise, freedom is abused and turned into slavery," Kuharic said. "Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, must take place in ourselves, and that will occur when we accept His new Law, not the Old Testament rule of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' but the Law of forgiveness and love," the Archbishop concluded. (hina) as 251230 MET dec 96