Pope John Paul II has created an...

Pope John Paul II has created an Office of Labor of the Holy See that a union representing Vatican City lay workers had been requesting for 10 years. The office, described as a ministry of labor for the Vatican, will open March 1. It is designed to help negotiate solutions to labor problems between the Holy See and its lay workers, including those in the curia, or the administration of the Vatican, and Vatican Radio. John Paul, in creating the office, said it must operate according to a spirit of true justice and always seek conciliation in times of controversy. The pontiff announced his intentions to institute such an office in a document he issued last year on reforms in the curia. Mariano Cerullo, the president of the Assn. of Vatican Lay Workers, called the creation of the office a positive development.