OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 4, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Msgr. Faustino Armendariz Jimenez, vicar general of the archdiocese of Hermosillo, Mexico, as bishop of Matamoros (area 19,457, population 3,070,306, Catholics 2,844,000, priests 123, permanent deacons 4, religious 91), Mexico. The bishop-elect was born in Magdalena de Kino, Mexico, in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1982.

- Fr. Rafael Sandoval Sandoval M.N.M., pastor at Monterrey and former superior general of the Missionaries of the Nativity of Mary, as bishop of Tarahumara (area 31,354, population 227,450, Catholics 216,070, priests 32, religious 137), Mexico. The bishop-elect was born in Guascaro Michoacan, Mexico, in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1974.
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NEW ROMAN MARTYROLOGY LISTS 7,000 SAINTS AND BLESSEDS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 4, 2005 (VIS) - In Rome at the beginning of last month, the second edition of the Roman Martyrology was presented. The new Martyrology is an updated list not, as the name might suggest, of martyrs, but of all the saints and blesseds venerated by the Church.

  The latest edition of the Martyrology was presented during an event promoted by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to commemorate the conciliar constitution on liturgical reform "Sacrosanctum Concilium", promulgated on December 4, 1963.

  The new edition contains certain differences with respect to the earlier edition, which was published in 2001 and was the first since Vatican Council II. A number of typographical errors have been corrected and the 117 people canonized or beatified between 2001 and 2004 have been added. Moreover, many saints, mostly Italian-Greek monks, whose names have not thus far been listed in the Martyrology but who are effectively much venerated, especially in southern of Italy, have also been included.

  The updated Martyrology contains 7,000 saints and blesseds currently venerated by the Church, and whose cult is officially recognized and proposed to the faithful as models worthy of imitation.
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