MEETING IN VATICAN ON FUTURE OF CHRISTIANS IN HOLY LAND

VATICAN CITY, NOV 28, 2001 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls released the following declaration today:

"On December 13, a meeting will be held at the Vatican on the theme: 'The future of Christians in the Holy Land'.

"The meeting, of a purely pastoral nature, was desired by the Holy Father himself, who, considering the delicate situation in the Holy Land, wishes to confirm, once again, his spiritual closeness to those populations and to share the drama of their daily existence, too often tested by acts of violence and discrimination.

"The meeting, which will bring together the leaders of the Catholic communities of different rites in the Holy Land and the presidents of various episcopal conferences, will offer the possibility to give witness to the solicitude of the entire Church for those Christians, in particular for the Catholic community, as well as to show the common commitment to the continuity of its millenarian presence in that region."

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POPE EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES FOR VICTIMS OF GAS EXPLOSION IN ROME

VATICAN CITY, NOV 28, 2001 (VIS) - At the end of this morning's weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, and greetings in different languages to the pilgrims present, Pope John Paul said he had "learned with great sorrow the news of the explosion yesterday which involved a building in the Montesacro neighborhood of Rome."

He added that "In this moment of pain, I am especially close to all those who have been struck by this tragic event; to them I express sentiments of comfort and affection. Let us together call upon the Lord to grant the eternal prize to those who lost their lives, with a special thought for the firemen who died while generously fulfilling their duty. Let us pray that there will be no lack of solidarity with the families who bemoan the loss of loved ones and who must face the serious discomfort following such a grave accident."

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GENERAL AUDIENCE: INVITATION TO PRAISE GOD FOR HIS LOVE

VATICAN CITY, NOV 28, 2001 (VIS) - In today's general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, John Paul II spoke on Psalm 116, an invitation to praise God for His love.

The Pope affirmed that this shortest of all the Psalms exalts "the covenant between God and His people, within a universal context," since it "is not addressed only to Israel, but to all the peoples of the earth. ... We could, therefore, speak of an 'ecumenism' of prayer, embracing all peoples with their different origins, histories and cultures."

"Israel, the chosen people," he continued, "has a mission to fulfill in this universal horizon. It must proclaim two great divine virtues it has experienced in living the covenant with the Lord." The first virtue is that of "profound sentiments between two persons, united by an authentic and steadfast bond. It embraces, therefore, values such as love, fidelity, mercy, goodness, tenderness." The second is "the 'truth', that is, the genuineness of a relationship, its authenticity and loyalty. ... The faithful love of God will never lessen and He will not abandon us to ourselves or to the obscurity of senselessness, of blind destiny, of emptiness, or of death."

The Holy Father emphasized that "God loves us with an unconditional love, which never tires, and which is never extinguished. This is the message of our Psalm, as brief almost as an ejaculation, but as intense as a great canticle."

"Let us praise, therefore, the Lord! Let us praise Him without tiring. Yet may our praise be expressed with our lives, before our words."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 28, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Eurico dos Santos Veloso of Luz as metropolitan archbishop of Juiz de Fora (area 10,737, population 650,414, Catholics 520,300, priests 118, permanent deacons 1, religious 289), Brazil. The archbishop-elect was born in Sanandira, in 1933, and ordained to the priesthood in 1962. He succeeds Archbishop Clovis Frainer, O.F.M.Cap., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted by the Holy Father, in conformity with canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Bishop Laurindo Guizzardi, C.S., of Bage, as bishop of Foz do Iguacu (area 7,062, population 408,000, Catholics 368,000, priests 34, religious 117), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Olivio Aurelio Fazza, S.V.D., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Philip Huang Chao-Ming, auxiliary of Kaohsiung, as bishop of Hwalien (area 8,144, population 603,487, Catholics 55,454, priests 48, religious 115), Taiwan. He succeeds Bishop Andrew Tsien Chih-ch'un, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with the age limit.

- Erected the diocese of Nnewi (area 662, population 614,822, Catholics 312,360, priests 77), Nigeria, with territory taken from the archdiocese of Onitsha, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan church. He appointed Fr. Hilary Paul O. Okeke, vicar general of the archdiocese of Onitsha, as the first bishop of Nnewi. The bishop-elect was born in Utuh, in 1947, and ordained to the priesthood in 1974.

- Appointed Bishop Joseph Mokobe Ndjoku of Bokungu-Ikela, as bishop of Basankusu (area 70,000, population 420,000, Catholics 170,485, priests 42, religious 43), Democratic Republic of the Congo.

- Appointed Fr. Valerian Okeke, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria, rector of the Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu, as coadjutor archbishop of Onitsha (area 2,968, population 1,558,714, Catholics 1,114,199, priests 298, religious 300). The archbishop-elect was born in Umudioka, in 1953, and ordained to the priesthood in 1981.

- Appointed as auxiliaries of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo (area 1,645, population 8,899,790, Catholics 6,674,842, priests 871, permanent deacons 1, religious 3,446), Brazil: Msgr. Odilo Pedro Scherer, of the clergy of the diocese of Toledo, official of the Congregation for Bishops; Msgr. Benedito Beni dos Santos, vicar general of the diocese of Taubate; Fr. Jose Benedito Simao, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo, director of the faculty of Theology "Nossa Senhora da Assuncao." Bishop-elect Scherer was born in Sao Francisco, in 1949, and ordained to the priesthood in 1976. Bishop-elect Beni dos Santos was born in Lagoinha, in 1937, and ordained to the priesthood in 1962.

- Appointed Msgr. Tamas Szabo, director of the chancellery of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference, as military ordinary in Hungary. The bishop-elect was born in Zirc, in 1956, and ordained to the priesthood in 1988. He succeeds Bishop Gaspar Ladosci, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same military ordinariate the Holy Father accepted, in conformity with canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Bishop Gaspar Ladosci as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest (area 1,543, population 2,094,000, Catholics 1,258,000, priests 388, permanent deacons 14, religious 1,009), Hungary.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, NOV 28, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Audrys Juozas Backis, archbishop of Vilnius, Lithuania.
- Archbishop Augustine Kasujja, apostolic nuncio in Algeria and in Tunisia.
- Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general of His Holiness for the diocese of Rome and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

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