Latest from Vatican Information Service News - Pope Francis Appoints and Messages


- TELEGRAM FOR THE AVIATION ACCIDENT IN MAGONG
- POPE'S MESSAGE FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARGENTINE SHRINE OF ST. PANTALEON
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

- NINETY MINUTES FOR PEACE
- AUDIENCES
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

- THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL, A MISSIONARY JOY: WORLD CONGRESS OF ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS AND NEW COMMUNITIES
- AUDIENCES
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
- CARDINAL SANDRI TO THE ORIENTAL CHRISTIANS: YOUR TEARS AND HOPES ARE OURS
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
- FRANCIS PRAYS FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE MALAYSIAN AIRLINES TRAGEDY
- BROTHERHOOD BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS: KEY WORD OF THE MESSAGE FOR THE END OF RAMADAN
TELEGRAM FOR THE AVIATION ACCIDENT IN MAGONG
Vatican City, 24 July 2014 (VIS) – Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Francis to the archbishop of Taipei and president of the regional Conference of bishops of China, John Huong Shan-chuan, with reference to the accident that occurred at Magong airport, Taiwan, in which a TransAsia Airways aircraft had to make an emergency landing, resulting in 48 deaths and leaving 10 injured.
In the text, the Holy Father expresses his sadness for the accident, as well as his closeness to the relatives of the victims, and assures them of his prayers for all those affected by the tragedy, asking God to grant them consolation, strength and peace.
POPE'S MESSAGE FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARGENTINE SHRINE OF ST. PANTALEON
Vatican City, 24 July 2014 (VIS) – The shrine is “a temple that seems still, but that the people of God carry forward. In this way it has moved ahead for fifty years in the hearts of the many faithful who have come to venerate the saint, to implore for health, and to profess their faith. In this way it has moved into the heart of the area, projecting itself onto the whole city”, said the Pope in the message he sent to the faithful who will meet in the neighbourhood of Mataderos in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the shrine of St. Pantaleon. “I ask the Lord to grant you the grace to continue on your path, to continue this pilgrimage of the heart in the midst of this great city”.
The Holy Father went on to recall with nostalgia the time during which, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, he personally visited the parish dedicated to the doctor saint of Nicomedia. “I wish to be close to you to be able to relive in some way the occasions in which I was able to visit the shrine on 27 July to help the priests in confession. I returned home spiritually strengthened by this witness of faith. The good I received is unimaginable. And I wish to give thanks for all this good. May the Lord reward you plentifully”.
The pontiff concluded by assuring the faithful of his closeness and prayer and asked them to pray for him. “In these days of celebration … I am close to you. … May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin protect you”.
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 24 July 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Ref. Joy Alappat as auxiliary of the eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Chicago of the Syro-Malabars (Catholics 87,000, priests 53, religious 31), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Parappukara, India, in 1956 and was ordained a priest in 1981. He holds a master's degree in theology from the St.Joseph's Pontifical Institute, Aluva, and the Adheva University, Wattair, and completed the Clinical Pastoral Education programme at Georgetown University, U.S.A. He has held a number of pastoral roles both in India – in the eparchal cathedral in Chalakudy and as chaplain of the Syro-Malabar community in Chennai – and in the U.S.A., as chaplain of Georgetown University, and parish priest in New Milford, Newark and Garfield. He is currently rector of the eparchal Cathedral in Bellwood, Illinois.
NINETY MINUTES FOR PEACE
Vatican City, 23 July 2014 (VIS) – An “Interreligious Match for Peace” will be held on 1 September at 8.45 p.m., at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The event will involve the participation of world level players and coaches such as Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Buffon, Zinedine Zidane, Javier Zanetti, Roberto Baggio, Andrea Pirlo, Yuto Nagatomo and Samuel Eto'o, and the proceeds will be donated to charity.
The idea for the match originates from April 2013, when the Pope met with the Argentine and Italian teams following a friendly match between them. On that occasion, the footballer Javier Zanetti communicated to the Pope his idea of organising a sporting event uniting people of different religions. A year later, the idea took shape. Tickets for the event will be available from Friday 25 July, and all the proceeds will be donated to “Scholas Occurrentes” and to the P.U.P.I. Foundation.
Scholas Occurrentes is an educational organisation, supported by Pope Francis through the Pontifical Council for Sciences, that uses technology, art and sport to promote social integration and the culture of encounter. The P.U.P.I. Foundation is a non-profit organisation created by Paula and Javier Zanetti over ten years ago, promotes and supports distance adoption programmes and assistance for children in difficult social conditions.
AUDIENCES
Vatican City, 23 July 2014 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father received in audience Archbishop Charles John Brown, apostolic nuncio in Ireland.
Yesterday afternoon, 22 July, the Holy Father received in audience Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, apostolic nuncio in Jordan and Iraq.
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 23 July 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Fr. Jan Kot O.M.I. as bishop of Ze Doca (area 35,110, population 332,000, Catholics 305,000, priests 25, permanent deacons 1, religious 30), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Mokon, Poland in 1962, gave his perpetual vows in 1986 and was ordained a priest in 1992. He holds a licentiate history of the Church from the University of Rybnik, Poland, and has served as priest in the parishes of Siedlce, Poland, and in Jussarval and subsequently Vitoria di Santo Antao, in the archdiocese of Olinda and Recife, Brazil. He is currently priest of the “Sagrado Coracao de Maria” parish in Campo Alegre do Fidalgo, Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Carlo Ellena, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese, upon reaching the age limit, was accepted by the Holy Father.

THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL, A MISSIONARY JOY: WORLD CONGRESS OF ECCLESIAL MOVEMENTS AND NEW COMMUNITIES
Vatican City, 22 July 2014 (VIS) – The Pontifical Council for the Laity will hold its third world congress of ecclesial movements and new communities from 20 to 22 November 2014, entitled “The joy of the Gospel: a missionary joy”, based on Pope Francis' Apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. The event, to take place at the Pontifical International College Maria Mater Ecclesiae in Rome, Italy, will be attended by delegates from international associations with the most widespread presence all over the world, already recognised as international associations of the faithful or in constant dialogue with the aforementioned dicastery.
Before the Angelus prayer on 19 May 2013, the Sunday of Pentecost during the Year of Faith, the Holy Father addressed the new movements and new ecclesial communities, encouraging them to continue in their work: “You are a gift and wealth for the Church! Always carry forth the strength of the Gospel! Do not be afraid! Always keep alive your joy and passion for the communion of the Church!”. After this encounter, the Pope presented the Apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, “a true vademecum for ecclesial movements and new communities” that has as its main objective the need for a renewed evangelical phase in the life of the Church in our times.
Starting from this assumption, the Pontifical Council for the Laity has consulted with the movements and new ecclesial communities regarding the organisation, logistics and main themes to be considered in the Congress. The registration of delegates at the Congress is formally open and so far members have enrolled from ecclesial movements and new communities from all continents and from more than eighty international associative entities, which will be accompanied by various bishops from the diocese and organs of the Roman Curia.
In addition, more than fifty-five founders and general heads of various communities from around the world have already enrolled. The superiors of the dicastery dedicated their annual meeting of 27 June 2014 to ecclesial movements and new communities, in preparation for this important event, and to hearing the participants in the meeting from over thirty international associations of the faithful.
AUDIENCES
Vatican City, 22 July 2014 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon, 21 July, the Holy Father received in audience Bishop Nunzio Galantino of Cassano dell'Jonio, secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 22 July 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:
- appointed the following members of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: Archbishop Carlos Jose Nanez of Cordoba, Argentina; Bishop Rodolfo Valenzuela Nunez of Vera Paz and president of the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala; and Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, Federal Republic of Germany.
- appointed the following as consultors of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: Cristiano Bettega, director of the National Office for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue of the Italian Episcopal Conference; Hector Sherri, president of the Theological Commission of Malta and the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission, Malta; Michael Joeng-Hun Shin, official for ecumenism of the Korean Episcopal Conference; Fernando Rodriguez Garrapucho, director of the John XXIII Centre for Oriental and Ecumenical Studies at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain; Br. Enzo Bianchi, prior of the Monastery of Bose, Italy; Fr. Franck Lemaitre, O.P., director of the National Service for Christian Unity of the Bishops' Conference of France; John Crossins, O.S.F.S., executive director of the secretariat for ecumenical and interreligious matters of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Fr. Jorge A. Scampini, O.P., professor of ecumenism at the faculty of theology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Fr. Milan Zust, S.J., Slovenia, lecturer at the faculty of missiology of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome; Sister Maria Ha Fong Ko, F.M.A., Macau, lecturer in New Testament exegesis at the Pontifical Faculty of Education Sciences (Auxilium), Rome and at the Holy Spirit Seminary of Hong Kong.
CARDINAL SANDRI TO THE ORIENTAL CHRISTIANS: YOUR TEARS AND HOPES ARE OURS
Vatican City, 21 July 2014 (VIS) – Yesterday Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, celebrated Mass in the Maronite Cathedral of Our Lady of Lebanon in Los Angeles, United States, on the occasion of the festivity of Sts. Charbel and Elias, commemorated by Lebanese Maronites all over the world on the thirdSunday of July. Around four hundred faithful of the Oriental Churches participated in the celebration.
According to a communiqué from the dicastery, the cardinal spoke in his homily of the immense suffering caused by the desperate fate of many innocent people and remarked that, while the Christians in Mosul in Iraq and Aleppo in Syria are the most afflicted, the entire area is in a state of insecurity, unfortunately maintained by widespread indifference. He also made reference to those affected by current events in Palestine, “who are in tears, unable to be men and Christians in serenity and dignity. We tell them that their tears are ours, nonetheless we share the same hope, and its name is Christ; and Jesus Christ is faithful. For this, we persevere together in the same journey”.
After reading the appeal in support of persecuted Christians, launched by Pope Francis during yesterday's Angelus, the Cardinal invited the faithful to pray in silence and emphasised the Church's closeness to the Patriarchs, the bishops and the people of the Syro-Catholic and Chaldean Churches. He emphasised the Church's participation in their suffering and urged them to persevere in the defence of human rights and religious freedom, “particularly where Christians have been living for two thousand years since the beginning of Christianity” to the benefit of society, and where they may continue to offer their contribution to the human community.
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 21 July 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Joseph Gebara, coadjutor of the eparchy of Nossa Senhora do Paraiso em Sao Paolo, Brazil, as bishop of the same eparchy (Catholics 436,000, priests 11, permanent deacons 3, religious 4). He succeeds Bishop Fares Maakaroun, M.S.P., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same eparchy in accordance with canon 210 para. 1 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches was accepted by the Holy Father.
On Saturday, 19 July, the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family, as his special envoy to the consecration of the new Shrine of San Gabriele dell'Addolorata, Teramo, Italy, scheduled for 21 September 2014.
FRANCIS PRAYS FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE MALAYSIAN AIRLINES TRAGEDY
Vatican City, 18 July 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father Francis has learned with dismay of the tragedy of the Malaysian Airlines aircraft downed in east Ukraine, a region marked by high tensions. He raises prayers for the numerous victims of the incident and for their relatives, and renews his heartfelt appeal to all parties in the conflict to seek peace and solutions through dialogue, in order to avoid further loss of innocent human lives.
BROTHERHOOD BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS: KEY WORD OF THE MESSAGE FOR THE END OF RAMADAN
Vatican City, 18 July 2014 (VIS) – “Towards a genuine fraternity between Christians and Muslims” is the title of the message sent by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue to mark the end of Ramadan ('Id al-Fitr 1435/2014 A.D.). The document is signed by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Fr. Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot M.C.C.J., respectively president and secretary of the dicastery.
“Last year, the first year of his ministry, Pope Francis personally signed the Message addressed to you on the occasion of ‘Id al-Fitr. On another occasion, he also called you 'our brothers and sisters' (Angelus, 11 August 2013). We all can recognize the full significance of these words. In fact, Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters in the one human family, created by the One God”.
The message goes on to recall the words of Saint John Paul II to Muslim religious leaders in Nigeria in 1982: “All of us, Christians and Muslims, live under the sun of the one merciful God. We both believe in one God who is the creator of man. We acclaim God's sovereignty and we defend man's dignity as God's servant. We adore God and profess total submission to him. Thus, in a true sense, we can call one another brothers and sisters in faith in the one God”.
“We thank the Almighty for what we have in common, while remaining aware of our differences”, the message continues. “We perceive the importance of promoting a fruitful dialogue built upon mutual respect and friendship. Inspired by our shared values and strengthened by our sentiments of genuine fraternity, we are called to work together for justice, peace and respect for the rights and dignity of every person. We feel responsible in a particular way for those most in need: the poor, the sick, orphans, immigrants, victims of human trafficking, and those suffering from any kind of addiction”.
“As we know, our contemporary world faces grave challenges which call for solidarity on the part of all people of good will. These include threats to the environment, the crisis of the global economy and high levels of unemployment particularly among young people. Such situations give rise to a sense of vulnerability and a lack of hope for the future. Let us also not forget the problems faced by so many families which have been separated, leaving behind loved ones and often small children. Let us work together, then, to build bridges of peace and promote reconciliation especially in areas where Muslims and Christians together suffer the horror of war”.
The document concludes by expressing the hope that our friendship may “inspire us always to cooperate in facing these many challenges with wisdom and prudence. In this way we will help to diminish tension and conflict, and advance the common good. We will also demonstrate that religions can be a source of harmony for the benefit of society as a whole. Let us pray that reconciliation, justice, peace and development will remain uppermost among our priorities, for the welfare and good of the whole human family. Together with Pope Francis, we are happy to send you our cordial best wishes for a joyful celebration and a life of prosperity in peace”.


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