OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 17, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Fr. Guillermo Orozco Montoya of the clergy of the diocese of Sonson-Rionegro, Colombia, departmental director at the Secretariat of the Colombian Episcopate, as bishop of San Jose del Guaviare (area 42,327, population 120,000, Catholics 108,500, priests 23, permanent deacons 3, religious 4), Colombia. The bishop-elect was born in Sonson in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1970. He succeeds Bishop Belarmino Correa Yepes M.X.Y., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese, the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Erected the new diocese of El Banco (area 11,855, population 389,641, priests 18) Colombia, with territory taken from the dioceses of Santa Marta and Valledupar, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Barranquilla. He appointed Fr. Jaime Enrique Duque Correa M.X.Y., pastor of Emaus in Medellin, Colombia, as first bishop of the new diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Medellin in 1943 and ordained a priest in 1967.

 - Appointed Fr. Paul Hwang Cheol-soo, former diocesan chancellor, as auxiliary of Pusan (area 3,267, population 5,437,906, Catholics 379,030, priests 313, religious 661), Korea. The bishop-elect was born in Miriang, Korea in 1953 and ordained a priest in 1983.
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WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 17, 2006 (VIS) - The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, traditionally celebrated every year from January 18 to 25, begins tomorrow. The theme for this year's initiative, taken from the Gospel of Matthew, is: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

  The texts for reflection and prayer this year have been prepared by an ecumenical group from Dublin, Ireland, chosen by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and by the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

  Each day of the Week will have a different theme:

January 18: United through the presence of Christ. "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism" (Ephesians 4: 5, 6).

January 19: Building Christian unity with Jesus in our midst - daily ecumenism. "You also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13: 14).

January 20: Praying together in Jesus' name. "The Lord waits to be gracious to you" (Isaiah 30: 18).

January 21: From the past to the future - forgiveness and healing of memories. "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven " (Matthew 18: 22).

January 22: God's presence among us: a call to peace. "The Lord is with us" (Psalm 46).

January 23: Mission in Jesus' name. "So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost" (Matthew 18: 14).

January 24: Recognizing and welcoming God's presence in the other in Jesus' name
"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me" (Matthew 18: 5).

January 25: One in hope. "On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).

  Although the traditional period for celebrating this week of prayer is in the month of January, in the southern hemisphere Churches sometimes seek other periods such as, for example, around the time of Pentecost, which is also a symbolically significant date for the unity of the Church, and was suggested by the Faith and Order movement in 1926.

  In the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 25, Feast of the Conversion of the Apostle Paul, Benedict XVI will preside at the celebration of Vespers to mark the close of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
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