"COR UNUM" REPORT ON WORLDWIDE CHARITY ACTIVITY

VATICAN CITY, JUN 18, 2002 (VIS) - Made public today was a report from the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," the dicastery that administers papal charity, on charitable activity in the world. This includes contributions to countries affected by natural disasters and war, as well as human promotion in developing countries.

The report recalls that the Pope charged "Cor Unum" to assign funds collected on the World Day of Fasting and Prayer for Peace to the most needy. The Day was held on December 14, 2001, after the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan, but offers still continue to arrive and, up to the present, 1,800,000 Euros have been collected.

In the first months of this year, "Cor Unum," as directed by the Pope, sent aid amounting to 950,000 dollars for Afghan and Iraqui refugees and for the victims of war in the Middle East. It also sent a contribution of 50,000 dollars to a hospital in New York for medical aid to victims of the terrorist attack. Last month, during his apostolic visit to Azerbaijan, the Holy Father consigned a cheque for 100,000 dollars for refugees in that country.

The dicastery that administers papal charity has assigned a total of 1,209,700 dollars for people affected by natural disasters and war, and 841,200 dollars for integral human promotion among the weakest sectors of the population in various countries.

The report further indicates that the administrative council of the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, instituted by the Pope in 1984, approved financing to the value of 2,333,308 dollars for 230 projects to combat drought and desertification in countries of sub-Saharan Africa and to form specialists in that field.

Finally, the report concludes, the administrative council of the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation, established by the Pope in 1992 to favor the integral human promotion of poor indigenous, mixed race and Afro-American rural peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean, examined 294 projects and decided to finance 216 for a total amount of 1,773,700 dollars.

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PROGRAM OF APOSTOLIC TRIP TO TORONTO, GUATEMALA, MEXICO

VATICAN CITY, JUN 18, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today the program of the Pope's forthcoming apostolic trip to Toronto, Guatemala City and Mexico City was made public. The visit will take place from July 23 to August 2, 2002, and is his 97th such journey outside Italy since the beginning of his pontificate.

The Holy Father will depart from Rome's Fiumicino airport on July 23 at 9:40 a.m. and is due to arrive in Toronto at 1 p.m. local time. After the welcome ceremony, he will travel to "Strawberry Island" in Lake Simcoe. No activities are scheduled for July 24 or the morning of July 25. In the afternoon of July 25 he will attend a welcome party with young people in Toronto's Exhibition Place.

No activities are scheduled for Friday July 26. On Saturday July 27 he is scheduled to meet, among others, the Canadian prime minister. At 1 p.m. he will pray the angelus with the Community of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the chapel of their motherhouse, and at 7:30 p.m. he will participate in a vigil with young people at Downsview Park.

On Sunday July 28, the Pope will celebrate Mass and pray the angelus in Downsview Park to mark the celebration of 27th World Youth Day.

On Monday July 29 he will celebrate Mass in private and after a farewell ceremony in Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto he will depart for Guatemala City, where he is scheduled to arrive at 3 p.m.

The Holy Father will celebrate Mass on Tuesday July 30 at 9 a.m. and will canonize Blessed Brother Peter of San Jose of Betancur in the hippodrome of Guatemala City. That same afternoon, he will depart for Mexico City where he will arrive three hours later.

On Wednesday July 31 he will celebrate Mass at 10 a.m. and canonize Blessed Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the afternoon, he will rest.

The Pope will celebrate Mass in private on August 1 in the chapel of the apostolic nunciature in Mexico City and later will go to the Basilica of Guadalupe to celebrate a liturgy of the Word at 10:15 a.m. and to beatify the martyrs Juan Bautista and Jacinto de los Angeles. At 1 p.m. a farewell ceremony will take place. The papal plane will depart at 1:30 p.m. and will land at 9 a.m. on August 2 in Ciampino Airport in Rome.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 18, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Fr. Phillipe Breton of the clergy of the archdiocese of Paris, pastor of St. Honore d'Eylau, as bishop of Aire et Dax (area 9,364, population 326,617, Catholics 255,000, priests 205, permanent deacons 6, religious 309), France. The bishop-elect was born in Rouen, France in 1936 and was ordained a priest in 1966. He succeeds Bishop Robert Sarrabere whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Gerard Daucourt of Orleans, France as bishop of Nanterre (area 175, population 1,410,000, Catholics 950,000, priests 346, permanent deacons 30, religious 949), France. He succeeds Bishop Francois Favreau whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 18, 2002 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- Six prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Peru on their "ad limina" visit:
- Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, archbishop of Lima, accompanied by his auxiliaries, Bishop Carlos Garcia Camader and Bishop Jose Antonio Eguren Anselmi.
- Archbishop Alcides Mendoza Castro of Cuzco.
- Archbishop Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira of Arequipa.
- Archbishop Hector Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte of Trujillo.
- Community of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.
- Cardinal Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra, archbishop of Antananarivo, Madagascar.

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ARCHBISHOP FOLEY: BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 18, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop John P. Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, is participating in a meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations dedicated to Information and Communication Technologies for Development which is taking place in New York from June 17 to 18.

In his speech to the assembly, the archbishop reaffirmed the Holy See's interest in this subject and in the "human and moral implications" and he recalled that while making information and communication technology available to as many people as possible we must respect three basic principles: "the importance of truth, the dignity of the human person and the promotion of the common good."

After referring to the digital divide, he emphasized that in order to close this gap it was "necessary that measures be taken to end the unjust discrimination dividing the rich from the poor, both within and among nations, on the basis of access to the new information and communications technologies. Another divide," he added, "operates to the disadvantage of women, and it too, needs to be closed."

"The extension of basic telecommunications services to the entire population of developing countries is a matter of justice. ... The information and communication technologies propel and sustain the process of globalization, leading to a situation where commerce and communication are freed from the restraints of national frontiers."

The archbishop underlined that although this situation could have been a motive to "create wealth and promote development", the distribution of benefits has been "unequal. While some countries - as well as corporations and individuals - have greatly increased their wealth, others have been unable to keep up or have even become poorer. Worse, there is a perception in some countries that globalization has been imposed upon them and that it is a process in which they are unable to participate in an effective way."

"John Paul II, in an address to the UN Secretary General and to the Administrative Committee on Coordination of the United Nations," concluded the archbishop, "spoke of a 'growing sense of international solidarity' that offers the United Nations System 'a unique opportunity to contribute to the globalization of solidarity by serving as a meeting place for States and civil society and a convergence of the varied interests and needs'."

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