AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 25, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences ten prelates from the United States Catholic Bishops' Conference (Region VII) on their "ad limina" visit:

- Cardinal Francis Eugene George, O.M.I., archbishop of Chicago, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Gustavo Garcia-Siller, M.Sp.S., Francis J. Kane, Jerome E. Listecki, Thomas J. Paprocki and Joseph N. Perry.

- Bishop Daniel Robert Jenky, C.S.C., of Peoria.

- Bishop Thomas George Doran of Rockford.

- Bishop George Joseph Lucas of Springfield in Illinois.

- Archbishop Daniel Mark Buechlein, O.S.B., of Indianapolis.
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QATAR CONFERENCE ON MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE

VATICAN CITY, MAY 25, 2004 (VIS) - Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, librarian and archivist of Holy Roman Church and Archbishops Michael Fitzgerald and Pier Luigi Celata, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, will be among the Holy See participants at the Qatar Conference on Muslim-Christian Dialogue which starts Thursday, May 27 in the capital city of Doha.

  The Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims, an office of the pontifical council, and the Gulf States Center at the University of Qatar have organized the three-day event which will take place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha. May 27 is a public session to which Muslim and Christian leaders from around the world have been invited. Closed sessions will he held on May 28 and 29 on the theme of religious freedom.

  Among those scheduled to address the public sessions on Thursday are Cardinal Tauran, Archbishop Fitzgerald, Shayk Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, emir of Qatar, His Holiness Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Youssef al-Qaradawi of the University of Qatar, Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi of al-Azhar and Youssef El-Hage from Lebanon.
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