ARCHBISHOP CORDES TO TRAVEL TO UGANDA TOMORROW

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," will travel to Uganda from October 25 to 30 "to stimulate attention within and beyond the Church about this country, devastated by AIDS," according to a communique made public today. In February 2001, the Holy Father donated 500,000 euros to projects sponsored by local Catholic NGOs and the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Among the priorities of the initiatives financed by "Cor Unum" are the following: "To give orphans a family, to educate and build schools, health education to prevent AIDS, professional formation, especially for young people that have been in prisons for minors; the foundation of a house for children who are terminally ill with AIDS to be run by the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta."

On October 25 in Kampala, Archbishop Cordes will visit a center of professional formation for boys who have been released from juvenile prisons. The next day he will inaugurate a house of the Missionaries of Mother Teresa for 60 children with AIDS. He will also go to an orphanage. On Sunday October 27 he will participate in a diocesan celebration in Kampala. On the 28th, he will go to Gulu, in the north of the country, where "the Church is committed to the reestablishment of the conditions for peace, threatened by the war that for 15 years has bloodied this region which borders Ruanda."

The president of "Cor Unum" will meet on October 29 with members of the Uganda Episcopal Conference and with Caritas and on October 30, he will visit the shrine of Namugongo which was built where the Ugandan martyrs were killed.

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HOLY FATHER WELCOMES NEW AMBASSADOR FROM HUNGARY

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father this morning welcomed Gabor Erdody, Hungary's new ambassador to the Holy See, and in his talk to him in French, highlighted the progress that Hungary made after "the painful ruptures caused in the last century by two world wars and the dark years of communist power."

The Pope also recalled Hungary's long ties with the Apostolic See, noting that "during the Jubilee Year (Hungary) solemnly celebrated the millennium of the foundation of the Nation and its Baptism under King Stephen I, an exceptional occasion to show national unity and to recall how it drew from its religious roots the strength to build a society where everyone is recognized and respected, and has the possibility of participating in the country's democratic life."

"Hungary is engaged," remarked the Pope, "in a great movement of reform and rebuilding the life of the nation in all its components. Among these is the family, the basic cell of social life, which must be supported and helped, especially when economic difficulties attack the most deprived among them." He mentioned the Church's contributions to helping society in general and families in particular.

John Paul II affirmed that "the future of a people is prepared in the attention it gives to the youngest and to their education. It is especially necessary to transmit to youth the civic, moral and spiritual values that have forged the soul of the Hungarian people over generations, while preparing them to live in a world that is open and secularized, and marked by individualism and an attraction for material goods."

The Pope then turned to Hungary's "renewed economic, political and cultural ties with all of its European neighbors," noting its candidacy for future membership in the European Union. The Pope praised the "prospect of enlargening the Union" and re-establishing European unity, "so long shattered by the Yalta partition and the closing by the Soviet bloc. The free circulation of goods, the dialogue of cultures and the exchange of spiritual riches among nations, these alone can help vanquish fears."

He dedicated remarks to Hungary's sensitivity to minorities, be they Hungarians who live and work abroad or immigrants who come to Hungary to work. Care must be given in all instances, he underscored, to give immigrants the best possible life and to give them "attention and respect."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Archbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera of Granada, Spain as metropolitan archbishop of Toledo (area 19,333, population 558,721, Catholics 557,235, priests 462, religious 1214), Spain. He accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese presented by Archbishop Francisco Alvarez Martinez upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Jean-Claude Hertzog, vicar general of the archdiocese of Bordeaux, France as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 10,000, population 1,288,311, Catholics 966,000, priests 336, religious 87). The bishop-elect was born in Bordeaux in 1935 and was ordained a priest in 1962.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 24, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Bishop Charles Caruana of Gibraltar on his "ad limina" visit.
- Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk of Kolomyia-Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
- Seven prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Northeast I-IV) on their "ad limina" visit:
- Archbishop Jose Antonio Aparecido Tosi Marques of Fortaleza, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Plinio Jose Luz de Silva, Sergio da Rocha and Jose Bezerra Coutinho, emeritus of Estancia.
- Bishop Ramon Lopez Carrozas, O. of M., of Bom Jesus do Gurgueia.
- Bishop Adelio Giuseppe Tomasin, P.S.D.P., of Quixada.
- Bishop Francisco Javier Hernandez Arnedo, O.A.R., of Tiangua.

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