HOLY SEE ABSTAINS ON VOTE FOR JUDGES OF INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL

VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 2001 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, spoke yesterday on the election of judges of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991.

He observed that "the Holy See has attentively followed the proceedings" of the Tribunal and "regards the Tribunal as an instrument of the international community to express its condemnation of violations of international humanitarian law."

The archbishop went on to say that "the Holy See appreciates that the United Nations recognizes its active role in the international arena. In fact, even if the Holy See is a non-Member State which maintains a Permanent Observer Mission at the U.N., it is invited to participate in the election of judges to the Tribunal in the same manner as Member States."
Archbishop Martino remarked, however, that "in consideration of its specific nature and its objectives, and according to the recognized praxis in similar cases, the Holy See decided, as on previous occasions, to abstain from casting its vote on the individual candidates to the Office of Judge of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia."

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TWO CARDINALS TO TAKE POSSESSION OF TITLES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 2001 (VIS) - Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re and Severino Poletto will take possession of their titular churches in coming days. Cardinal Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, will take possession of the title of the Most Holy 12 Apostles in Piazza Santissimi Apostoli in Rome on Sunday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. The following day, March 19, feast of St. Joseph, Cardinal Poletto, metropolitan archbishop of Turin, Italy, will take possession of the diaconate, raised "pro hac vice" to the title of St. Joseph in Via Trionfale in Rome at 4:30 p.m.

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POPE NAMES PRESIDENTS, RELATOR AND SECRETARY OF SYNOD

VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 2001 (VIS) - The 10th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be held in the Vatican from September 30 to October 27, 2001, on the theme "The Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World." The Holy Father has appointed the presidents, relator and secretary of that synod:

The presidents delegate are Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Bernard Agre, archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and Ivan Dias, archbishop of Bombay, India.

The relator general will be Cardinal Edward Michael Egan, archbishop of New York, U.S.A.

Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Oria, Italy, has been appointed as special secretary.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 201 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Renzo Civili, auditor emeritus of the Roman Rota, to the College of Apostolic Pronotaries "de numero participantium."

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences:

- Koichiro Matsuura, director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (U.N.E.S.C.O.), accompanied by his entourage.
- Six prelates of the Conference of Latin Bishops in the Arab Regions (C.E.L.R.A.), on the occasion of their "ad limina" visit.
- Archbishop Jean Benjamin Sleiman of Baghdad of the Latins, Iraq.
- Bishop Georges Perron of Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti.
- Archbishop Paul Dahdah, apostolic vicar of Beirut of the Latins, Lebanon.
- Bishop Giovanni Bernardo Gremoli, apostolic vicar of Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
- Bishop Francis Adeodatus Micallef, apostolic vicar of Kuwait.
- Bishop Armando Bortolaso, apostolic vicar of Alep, Syria.
- Cardinal Roger Etchegaray.

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