IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, MAR 16, 2005 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

 - Archbishop Roman Arrieta Villalobos, emeritus of San Jose de Costa Rica, Costa Rica, on March 8 at the age of 80.

 - Bishop Joseph Matthew Breitenbeck of Grand Rapids, U.S.A., on March 12 at the age of 90.

 - Bishop Abele Conigli, emeritus of Teramo-Atri, Italy, on March 14 at the age of 92.

 - Archbishop Jose Gottardi Cristelli, emeritus of Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 7 at the age of 81.

 - Bishop Armand Francois M. Le Bourgeois C.I.M., emeritus of Autun, France, on March 2 at the age of 94.

 - Bishop Luciano Nervi S.M.M., of Mangochi, Malawi, on March 8 at the age of 66.

 - Bishop Eugenio Santiago Peyrou S.D.B., emeritus of Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, on March 2 at the age of 91.

 - Bishop Giuseppe Torti, emeritus of Lugano, Switzerland, on March 14 at the age of 77.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 16, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation as counsellor general of Vatican City State presented for reasons of health by Giulio Sacchetti, entrusting that office to Cesare Mirabelli. At the same time, he designated Msgr. Bruno Bertagna, Carlo Balestrero and Massimo Vari as counsellors of Vatican City State.
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LETTER TO PRIESTS TO BE PRESENTED ON FRIDAY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 16, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father's Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 2005 will be presented in the Holy See Press Office at 11.30 a.m. on Friday March 18. The conference will be attended by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, Archbishop Csaba Ternyak, and Msgr. Giovanni Carru, respectively prefect, secretary and under-secretary of the Congregation for Clergy.
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YOUNG PEOPLE PREPARE FOR WORLD YOUTH DAY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 16, 2005 (VIS) - At 5 p.m. tomorrow, 15,000 young people from the diocese of Rome are scheduled to participate in a traditional annual meeting of reflection and prayer on the Pope's Message for the 20th World Youth Day (WYD) on the theme: "We Have Come to Adore Him." The celebration will be held in the basilica of St. John Lateran and will be presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome.

  Tomorrow's program includes teaching on the Eucharist delivered by Daniel Ange, a French monk and founder of the "Jeunesse lumiere" movement. There will also be songs and witnesses, as well as a moment of Eucharistic adoration during which the central points of the Message for World Youth Day will be considered. In closing, a message from the Holy Father will be read out. The 20th WYD will be held in Cologne, Germany in August.
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CONFERENCE TO LOOK AT LEGACY OF "GAUDIUM ET SPES"

VATICAN CITY, MAR 16, 2005 (VIS) - A three-day meeting promoted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace starts this afternoon in the New Synod Hall in the Vatican on the theme "A Call to Justice. The Legacy of  'Gaudium et Spes' 40 Years Later." Cardinal Renato Martino, council president, is scheduled to make welcome remarks and Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, will give the opening address.

  The meetings will be divided into plenary sessions and seminar sessions. Five main speakers will address five different dimensions of "Gaudium et Spes": Cardinal Claudio Hummes, archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil, will address the theological and ecclesial foundations; Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant'Egidio Community, will give a historical perspective; Rubens Ricupero, former director general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, will speak on "The Call to Justice in the Political Order"; Guy Pognon of Benin will address "A Call to Justice in the Economic Order"; Helen Alvare, a docent at the Catholic University of America, will talk on the role of the family in the social order.

  Conference participants intend to examine the scope of the social Magisterium of Vatican Council II through a triple reflection on the philosophical and theological foundations of Catholic social tradition, on the mission of the Church in the social sphere and on her answer to the signs of the times and analysis of great contemporary questions of an economic, political and social nature (globalization, poverty, consumerism, international peace, immigration, terrorism). Analysis of these questions will be accompanied by presentations of concrete models of effective action against poverty, social sin, and suffering in its various forms.
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POPE GIVES BLESSING FROM THE WINDOW OF HIS APARTMENT

VATICAN CITY, MAR 16, 2005 (VIS) - Shortly before 11.30 this morning the Pope appeared at the window of his apartment in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace and blessed several times the people gathered below in St Peter's Square.

  The large numbers of faithful in the square - mostly Polish pilgrims who applauded the Pope as soon as he appeared - was due to the fact that today is traditionally the day of the Pope's weekly general audience in the Vatican.

  The images of John Paul II were relayed on two giant screens placed in St Peter's Square.
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