OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 15, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Fr. Herve Giraud, superior of the University Seminary of Lyon, France, and Fr. Thierry Brac de la Perriere, vicar general of Lyon, as auxiliary bishops of the same archdiocese (area 5,087, population 1,733,500, Catholics 1,200,000, priests 545, permanent deacons 48, religious 2,198). Fr. Giraud was born in 1957 in Tournon, France and was ordained a priest in 1985. Fr. Brac de la Perriere was born in Lyon, France in 1959 and was ordained a priest in 1988.

- Appointed Fr. Thomas Anthony Williams, canon and pastor of St. Anthony in Liverpool, England as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese (area 1,165, population 1,100,000, Catholics 508,000, priests 386, permanent deacons 91, religious 500). The bishop-elect was born in 1948 in Liverpool and was ordained a priest in 1972.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 15, 2003 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in audience Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

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VATICAN STUDYING WAY FOR POPE TO RETURN ICON TO RUSSIAN PEOPLE

VATICAN CITY, APR 15, 2003 (VIS) - In answer to press reports of a possible stopover by Pope John Paul in Russia during his August trip to Mongolia, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of the Holy See Press Office, yesterday afternoon told journalists: "The Holy Father's desire to return the sacred icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which for years has been cared for in the Vatican, to the Russian people and the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow is well known. The appropriate occasion and way of turning it over (to them) will be evaluated at the proper time."

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