SEMINAR ON THE BOLOGNA PROCESS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 28, 2006 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office at 11.30 a.m. on Thursday, March 30, a press conference will be held to present a forthcoming seminar on the Bologna Process. The seminar has been organized by the Congregation for Catholic Education in collaboration with UNESCO-CEPES, and will be held in the Vatican's New Synod Hall from March 30 to April 1.

  The Bologna Process began in 1998 when, on the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the University of the Sorbonne in Paris, ministers of education from Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy prepared a joint document calling on the entire European Union to create "a European space for higher education." The following year, 1999, ministers from 29 countries meeting in the Italian city of Bologna, also home to one of the earliest European universities, signed a political declaration of intent.

  Thursday's press conference will be attended by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Archbishop Michael J. Miller C.S.B. and Msgr. Angelo Vincenzo Zani, respectively secretary and under-secretary of the same congregation, and Jan Sadlak, director of UNESCO-CEPES.
OP/BOLOGNA PROCESS/GROCHOLEWSKI                VIS 20060328 (200)

MASS ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF JOHN PAUL II

VATICAN CITY, MAR 28, 2006 (VIS) - In St. Peter's Square at 5.30 p.m. on Monday, April 3, Benedict XVI will preside at a Mass marking the first anniversary of the death of John Paul II.

  At 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 2, a year to the day after the late pontiff's demise, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar general for the diocese of Rome, will preside at the recitation of the Rosary in St. Peter's Square. Following the recitation, the Holy Father will greet those present from the window of his private study.
OCL/MASS/JOHN PAUL II                            VIS 20060328 (110)