OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Fr. Guido Plante, P.M.E., national director of the Pontifical Missionary Works and Director of the Superior Formation of the Pastoral Agents of the diocese of Choluteca, Honduras, as coadjutor bishop of the same diocese (area 5,775, population 595,500, Catholics 522,000, priests 27, religious 75). The bishop-elect was born in Montreal, Canada in 1936 and was ordained a priest in 1961.

- Appointed Bishop Antoni Dziemianko, auxiliary of Grodno, Belarus, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2004 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in audience Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the director of the Holy See Press Office, together with the personnel of the press office and the Vatican Information Service on the occasion of the 20th  anniversary of Navarro-Valls' appointment as director.
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IRAQ: PROTECTING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2004 (VIS) - Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of the Holy See Press Office, made the following declaration yesterday afternoon after the meeting of Hoshyar Zebari, minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, with Pope John Paul and then Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of State.

  "In the course of the conversations the situation in Iraq and the Middle East in general was examined.

  "The minister thanked His Holiness and his aides for the help they have always demonstrated toward Iraq and he confirmed his government's commitment to promote religious freedom and, in particular, to defend Christian communities.

  "In the discussions the painful scourge of terrorism was deplored once again, in the hopes for a speedy return to respecting for moral values which are the basis of all civilizations."
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