POPE JOHN PAUL EXPECTED TO RETURN TO VATICAN TODAY

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 2005 (VIS) - This morning the director of the Holy See Press Office, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, released the following statement to journalists with regard to Pope John Paul's health:

  "The acute laryngeal tracheitis that was the reason for urgently admitting the Holy Father to the hospital has healed.

  "The improvement of his general conditions continues favorably.

  "Over the last two days, all diagnostic exams, including a CAT scan, excluded other pathologies.

  "It is expected that the Holy Father's return to the Vatican will take place today."

  Navarro-Valls continued:

  "The Pope has decided to send a letter of thanks to all the people who have taken care of him these days: doctors, sisters, nurses, technicians and aides.

  "I would especially like to mention Dr. Rodolfo Proietti,  professor of anesthesiology and reanimation and director of the Emergency and Admittance Department who coordinated the medical team, assisted by Doctors Massimo Antonelli, Gaetano Paludetti, professor of otorhinolaryngology and Filippo Crea, professor of cardiology."
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FRATERNITY CAMPAIGN IN BRAZIL: SOLIDARITY AND PEACE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 2005 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from Pope John Paul II to Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo, archbishop of Sao Salvador da Bahia, primate of Brazil and president of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, upon the occasion of the annual Lenten Fraternity Campaign in that country. The Letter, written in Portuguese, was dated January 3.

  The Pope notes that the theme of the 2005 campaign is "Solidarity and Peace - Blessed are the Peacemakers." He adds that "this happy initiative, promoted by the Catholic Church more than 40 years ago, now reaches all Christian denominations in CONIC - the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil - thus constituting a significant occasion for ecumenical collaboration."

  "In the world in which we live," says the Holy Father, "frequently troubled by violence and marked by indifference, Christians who assume the commitment to promote peace and solidarity become efficacious instruments of evangelization and an example for everyone in building a society that is more fraternal and more attentive to the needs of the poor and indigent.

  "The ecumenical mark of this year's Fraternity Campaign," he concludes, "will facilitate for the Christians of Brazil a better reciprocal knowledge and a greater mutual esteem."
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NOTICE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 2005 (VIS) - As previously advised, there will be no edition of VIS tomorrow, February 11, the 76th anniversary of the signing of the Lateran Pacts and of the institution of Vatican City State. Service will resume on Monday, February 14.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father elevated the "sui iuris" Metropolitan Church of the Syro-Malankars to the rank of Major Archiepiscopal Church, and he promoted Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios Malancharuvil O.I.C. of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars, India, to the dignity of major archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars. The new metropolitan archbishop was born in Ullannor, India, in 1935, and ordained a priest in 1960. He was ordained a bishop in 1978 and appointed as metropolitan archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars in 1995. The Syro-Malankara Church has around 450,000 faithful divided in five eparchies and served by 632 priests, of whom 511 are eparchial and 121 religious. A total of 643 seminarians study in five seminaries, and there are over 2,030 female religious in 17 communities The Church also has 22 ecclesiastical institutions, 449 educational centers (schools, universities, etc.), and 466 charitable institutes.
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ACADEMY TO MEET ON QUALITY OF LIFE, ETHICS OF HEALTH

VATICAN CITY, FEB 10, 2005 (VIS) - On Thursday, February 17, at 11:30 a.m. in  the John  Paul II Hall of the Holy See Press Office, Archbishop Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, will present the General Assembly of the pontifical academy which will meet February 21-23 in the Vatican on the theme: "The Quality of Life, Ethics of Health."  The first two days are open to the public whereas the final day is reserved for academy members.

  Joining Archbishop Sgreccia in the presentation will be three members of the academy: Manfred Lutz, psychiatrist, Fr. Maurizio Faggioni, theologian and moralist, and Jean Marie Le Mene, a judge.
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