IN BRIEF

FOR THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE WINTER OLYMPICS, due to be held in February in the city of Turin and other areas of the Italian Piedmont region, Benedict XVI sent a message to Cardinal Severino Poletto, archbishop of that city. The Holy Father expresses the hope that the forthcoming event may be "an eloquent sign of friendship," and that it "may help to reinforce relations of intense solidarity among peoples." The message continues: "How can we not recognize the need of this in our own times, in which humanity is marked by no small amount of tension, and is eager to build a future of authentic peace?"

CARDINAL SECRETARY OF STATE ANGELO SODANO sent, in the Holy Father's name, a telegram of condolence to Archbishop Frantisek Rabek, military ordinary of Slovakia, for the recent crash of a Slovak military aircraft near Kosice. The accident, on January 19, cost the lives of many soldiers, returning to their country at the end of a peace-keeping mission in Kosovo, among them the military chaplain, Msgr. Michal Stang.
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