POLITICIANS FROM THROUGHOUT AMERICA TO DEBATE ON THE FAMILY

VATICAN CITY, JUL 29, 1999 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for the Family has organized the 3rd Meeting of Politicians and Legislators of America which will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from August 3 to 5. The theme of the meeting is "Family and Life, 50 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States, will participate in the meeting. Also present will be around 200 politicians and legislators from throughout America and a number of academics.

The first of these meetings, between Latin American states, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 1993. It studied the topic "The Rights of the Family at the Threshold of the Third Millennium." The second meeting, for all America, was held in Mexico City, Mexico, in June 1996. The theme on that occasion was "The Dignity of the Family and Life in the Policy and Legislation of America. Reflections in Light of the Encyclical 'Evangelium Vitae'."

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LETTER TO ENVOY FOR YOUTH MEETING AT SANTIAGO

VATICAN CITY, JUL 29, 1999 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from the Pope to Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, naming him as papal legate at the solemn closing celebration of the European Youth Meeting, which will be held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, from August 4 to 8.

In the Letter, written in Latin and dated July 4, John Paul II writes that the young people who will take part in this meeting "intend to construct - with drive, generosity and without vacillation - a more just and peaceful world, one in which the principles of rectitude and honesty can triumph.

"Consequently, it is with pleasure that we satisfy the request of our brother bishops in Spain, who have expressed their desire to be joined by our distinguished representative in order to augment the significance and solemnity of the event. Our thoughts turned to you, our esteemed brother whom, we feel, can fulfill this assignment in the best possible way. Not least, because you have demonstrated that you know how to communicate with young people in the various countries of Europe, understanding their mentality and aspirations."

The Holy Father concludes by asking Cardinal Sodano to pass on to all the participants "our affectionate proximity and our spiritual participation. We invoke the protection of St. James upon all of them, may he fill them with celestial favors and help them to enthusiastically follow in his footsteps."

The mission that will accompany Cardinal Sodano to Santiago is composed of Msgrs. Pedro Lopez Quintana, Eliseo Ariotti and Vicente Juan Segura, respectively assessor to the Secretariat of State, counsellor at the apostolic nunciature in Madrid and nunciature counsellor in the Secretariat of State. Dr. Giampaolo Mattei will also participate in the mission.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 29, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Hector Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte O.F.M., military ordinary for Peru, as archbishop of Trujillo (area 15,568, population 1,194,000, Catholics 1,075,000, priests 102, permanent deacons 2, religious 329), Peru. He succeeds Archbishop Manuel Prado Perez-Rosas S.J., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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