OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the eparchy of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, presented by Bishop Sofron Stefan Mudry O.S.B.M., in accordance with Canon 210 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

 - Gave his assent to the election of Fr. Mykola Simkaylo, pastor of the cathedral church of Ivano-Frankivsk, as bishop of Kolomyia-Chernivtsi (area 14,095, population 384,000, Catholics 240,000, priests 215, religious 4), Ukraine. The election was carried out canonically by the Synod of Bishops of the Greek Catholic Ukrainian Church, meeting in Kiev from October 5 to 12, 2004. The bishop-elect was born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1974.

  On May 30, the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Hsinchu, Taiwan, presented by Bishop James Liu Tan-kuei, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

 - Seven prelates from the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Archbishop Lawrence Patrick Henry of Cape Town, South Africa.

    - Bishop Hubert Bucher of Bethlehem, South Africa.

    - Bishop Edward Gabriel Risi O.M.I., of Keimoes-Upington, South Africa.

    - Bishop Erwin Hecht O.M.I., of Kimberley, South Africa.

    - Bishop Edward Robert Adams of Oudtshoorn, South Africa.

    - Bishop Franklyn Nubuasah S.V.D., apostolic vicar of Francistown, South Africa.

    - Bishop Boniface Tshosa Setlalekgosi of Gaborone, Botswana.

  This evening he is scheduled to receive in separate audiences:

 - Cardinal James Francis Stafford, major penitentiary.

 - Cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada, archbishop emeritus of Mexico, Mexico.
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COMMUNIQUE FROM EASTERN CATHOLIC CHURCHES

VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2005 (VIS) - Made public today was a communique from the Eastern Catholic Churches stating that Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, major archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians, Ukraine, with the consent of the Synod of the Greek Catholic Ukrainian Church, and after having informed the Holy See, has transferred, in accordance with Canon 85 para. 2 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Bishop Volodymyr Viytyshyn from Kolomiya-Chernoivtsi, Ukraine, to Ivano-Frankivsk (area 6,700, population 799,879, Catholics 609,098, priests 392, religious 170), Ukraine.
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STUDY SEMINAR ON THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2005 (VIS) - The Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences has organized a study seminar to take place in the Vatican June 3 and 4. It will consider research and open questions concerning the history of Christianity in the second half of the twentieth century.

  A number of leading European historians, though not members of the pontifical committee, are due to participate in the seminar.

  Manlio Simonetti of the Accademia dei Lincei in Italy will speak on the period of Antiquity; Michael Matheus, director of the German Historical Institute in Rome, will address the subject of the Middle Ages; Paolo Prodi of the University of Bologna, Italy, will speak on the Modern Age; while Ernesto Galli Della Loggia of the University of Perugia, Italy will discuss the contemporary period.

  The Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences was created in 1954 by Pope Pius XII. It has thirty members from various countries, and since 1998 has been presided by Msgr. Walter Brandmuller. This study meeting marks the close of the committee's fiftieth anniversary celebrations which began in spring last year.
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POPE MARKS 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF JOHN PAUL'S VISIT TO UNESCO

VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2005 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from Pope  Benedict XVI to Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is representing the Holy See in Paris at a colloquium entitled "Culture, Reason and Freedom" which commemorates the visit 25 years ago today by Pope John Paul to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

  In the message to Cardinal Tauran, archivist and librarian of Holy Roman Church, the Holy Father noted the "immense recognition due to Pope John Paul who, with his personal and cultural experience, always underlined in his teachings the central and irreplaceable position of man, as well as his fundamental dignity, the source all of his inalienable rights. Twenty-five years ago the Pope declared at UNESCO headquarters that 'in the cultural domain, man is always first: man is the primordial and basic fact of culture'."

  The Pope then echoed John Paul's words on that day, when, at UNESCO, he reminded his interlocutors of their responsibility: "Build peace by starting with the foundation: respect for all of man's rights, those linked to his material and economic dimension as well as those linked to the spiritual and interior dimension of his existence in this world."

  Benedict XVI, reiterating the Holy See's concern for and involvement in the work of UNESCO, through her permanent observer to this organization, went on to say that, "in a world which is both multiple and divided, and often submissive to the strong demands of globalization of economic relations and, even more, of information, it is important at the highest levels to mobilize the energies of intelligence so that man's rights to education and culture are recognized, especially in the poorest countries. In a world where man must learn more and more to recognize and to respect his brother, the Church wishes to make her own contribution to the service of the human community, while pointing out ... the relation that binds each person to the Creator of all life and the source of the inalienable dignity of each person, from conception to life's natural end."
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