POPE WELCOMES CATHOLIC PATRIARCHS PARTICIPATING IN SYNOD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2001 (VIS) - John Paul II this morning welcomed the six Catholic patriarchs who are participating in the Synod of Bishops and told them that their "presence at this meeting ... expresses in an especially meaningful way the catholicity of the Church."

He received Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt; Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad, patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, Lebanon; Gregoire III Laham, patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, Syria; Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon; Raphael I Bidawid, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq and Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, Lebanon.

"I happily welcome this occasion," said the Holy Father, "to express once again my spiritual closeness to your trials and to those of the populations entrusted to your pastoral care. Together let us pray so that the serious problems that you must face daily may find a ready and satisfying solution. At this time, my thoughts go to the land made holy by the presence and preaching of the Redeemer. The land in which He shed His blood for the salvation of the world and from which, when He arose from the dead, He sent His apostles to the world.

"I assure you," the Pope added, "that every day I follow with close attention the events involving the peoples of the Middle East and, in communion with the entire Church, I pray daily that we might see the dawn of a lasting and honorable peace for everyone. In this moment of intense fraternal communion, I ask you to extend to the clergy, consecrated persons and all the faithful an expression of my most cordial greetings."

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TWENTY-FOURTH GENERAL CONGREGATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2001 (VIS) - The Twenty-fourth General Congregation took place this morning, during which there was the second vote on the Post-Synodal Council of the General Secretariat and the presentation of the Final List of Propositions. The president delegate on duty was Cardinal Bernard Agre.

At the end of the congregation, Cardinal Schotte announced that the Holy Father has decided to give a gift to all the participants in the synod. Those who are bishops will receive a pectoral cross and chain, inspired by the words "Duc in altum," taken from the Apostolic Letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte." Other participants will receive the official medal of the 23rd anniversary of John Paul II's pontificate in either silver or bronze.

The Twenty-fifth and final General Congregation, for the vote on the propositions and for the conclusion of the Synod work, will take place this afternoon.

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TWENTY-THIRD GENERAL CONGREGATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 25, 2001 (VIS) - At 5:05 p.m. today, in the presence of the Holy Father and 235 synod fathers, the Twenty-third General Congregation took place, for the presentation of and balloting on the Message of the Synod of Bishops to the People of God. The president delegate on duty was Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

At the beginning of this Congregation, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Jan Pieter Schotte, C.I.C.M., communicated the results of the first balloting for the Post-Synodal Council. None of the Synod Fathers obtained the absolute majority required in the first balloting. The ballots for the second vote (which will be determined through relative majority) will be distributed at the beginning of the Twenty-fourth General Congregation, tomorrow morning, October 26.

The president and the vice-president of the Commission for the preparation of the Message, Archbishop Estanislao Esteban Karlic of Parana, Argentina, and Bishop Olivier de Berranger of Saint-Denis, France, read the second draft of the Message of the Synod: The former read the first part in Italian and the latter read the second part in French. The Message has been prepared in five languages.

The voting on the Message then took place, followed by the interventions of 27 Synod Fathers who suggested several stylistic modifications to the text.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Peter Smith of East Anglia as metropolitan archbishop of Cardiff (area 3,064, population 1,596,200, Catholics 83,900, priests 130, permanent deacons 1, religious 200), Wales. The archbishop-elect was born in London in 1943, ordained a priest in 1972 and a bishop in 1995. He succeeds Archbishop John Aloysius Ward, O.F.M.Cap., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted in conformity with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Msgr. Ad Abi Karam, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Moutaileb, archieparchy of Antelias, Lebanon, and president of the Catholic Council for Catechesis in the Middle East, as bishop of the eparchy of Saint Maron of Sydney of the Maronites (Catholics 150,000, priests 24, permanent deacons 1, religious 35), Australia. The bishop-elect was born in Kornet Chehwan, Lebanon, in 1937, and ordained to the priesthood in 1962. He succeeds Bishop Joseph Hitti, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same eparchy was accepted by the Holy Father in conformity with canon 210, para. 2, of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico.
- His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins, Palestine.
- Archbishop Ambrose B. De Paoli, apostolic nuncio in Japan.
- Bishop Thomas Vose Daily of Brooklyn, U.S.A.; with Dr. Carl Albert Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, accompanied by his wife; and Dr. Virgil C. Dechant.
- His Beatitude Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt; His Beatitude Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad, patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, Lebanon; His Beatitude Gregoire III Laham, patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, Syria; His Beatitude Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon; His Beatitude Raphael I Bidawid, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq; His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, Lebanon.

He also received the following participants of the Synod of Bishops:
- Cardinal Jan P. Schotte, C.I.C.M., secretary general, Synod of Bishops, Vatican City.
- Giuseppe Camilleri, member of the Society of Christian Doctrine, Malta.
- Fr. Jesus Castellano Cervera, O.C.D., Spain, professor of Dogmatic Theology, vice-president, Pontifical Theological Faculty, Pontifical Teresianum Institute of Spirituality, Rome.
- Fr. Ricard Antonio Ferrara, dean of the Faculty of Theology, Catholic University of Argentina, Argentina.
- Dr. Enrique Galarza Alarcon, consultant, Episcopal Conference of Ecuador.
- Msgr. Renzo Gerardi, ordinary professor, Faculty of Special Moral Theology, Pontifical Urban University, Italy.
- Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., dean of the Faculty of Canon Law, Pontifical Gregorian University, Italy.
- Fr. Philip Goyret, Argentina, professor of Ecclesiology, University of the Holy Cross, Rome.
- Fr. Jesus Maria Lecea Sainz, S.P., president, Union of European Conferences of Major Superiors, U.C.E.S.M., president, Spanish Conference of Superiors and Major Superiors, Conf.E.R., Spain.
- Fr. Jorge Ortiz Gonzalez, M.Sp.S, superior general, Missionaries of the Holy Spirit; president, Conference of Religious Institutes of Mexico, C.I.R.M., Mexico.
- Fr. Candido Pozo, S.J., professor of Dogmatic Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Granada, Spain.
- Fr. Alvaro Rodriguez Echeverria, F.S.C., Costa Rica, superior general, Brothers of the Christian Schools; president, Union of Superior Generals, U.S.G., Rome.
- Fr. Jose Ramon Villar, professor of Ecclesiology, Faculty of Theology, University of Navarra, Spain.
- Dr. Nazario Vivero, Venezuela, assessor, Episcopal Conference of Venezuela; member, Pontifical Council for the Laity, Vatican.

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