NOTE

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - As previously announced, Monday, May 1, feast of St. Joseph the Worker and a holiday in the Vatican, there will be no VIS service. Transmission will resume on Tuesday, May 2.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

- Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

- Bishop Robert James Carlson of Saginaw (United States of America).

- Cherie Blair.

  He is scheduled to receive this afternoon Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
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HOLY FATHER'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR MAY

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father's general prayer intention for May is: "That the abundance of the gifts the Holy Spirit bestows on the Church may contribute to the growth of peace and justice in the world."

  His mission intention is: "That in the mission countries those responsible for the public institutions may, with suitable laws, promote and defend human life from its conception to its natural termination."
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CELEBRATIONS PRESIDED BY THE HOLY FATHER: MAY AND JUNE

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - Today, the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff published the calendar for the celebrations that the Holy Father will preside from May to June.

MAY

- Monday, 1: At 5:30pm, the Holy Father will visit the Sanctuary of the Virgin Mary of Divine Love (close to Rome) and will pray the rosary.

- Saturday 6: At 9:30pm, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.

- Sunday 7: The fourth Sunday of Easter, at 9:00am in the Vatican Basilica, the Pope will ordain to the priesthood deacons from the diocese of Rome.

- Thursday 25-Sunday 28: Apostolic trip to Poland.

JUNE:

- Saturday 3: At 8:30pm in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father will preside at the Pentecost Vigil with the participation of various ecclesial movements and the new communities.

- Sunday 4: The Solemnity of Pentecost, Holy Mass will be celebrated at 9:30am in St. Peter's Square.

- Thursday 15: The Solemnity of Corpus Christi. At 7:00pm, Holy Mass in the basilica of Saint John Lateran, procession to the basilica of St. Mary Major and Eucharistic benediction.

- Thursday 29: The Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. Holy Mass will be celebrated at the basilica of St. Peter and will include the imposition of the pallium on metropolitan archbishops.
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DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS)- Today, during a private audience with Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorized the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:

MIRACLES

- Blessed Filippo Smaldone, Italian, diocesan priest, founder of the Congregation of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1848 - 1923).

- Blessed Rafael Guizar Valencia, Mexican, bishop of Veracruz, Mexico (1878 - 1938).

- Blessed Rosa Venerini, Italian, foundress of the Congregation of the "Maestre Pie Venerini" (1656 - 1728).

- Blessed Teodora Guerin, nee Anna Teresa, French, foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary of the Woods in the United States. (1798 - 1856).

- Venerable Servant of God Basile Antonio Maria Moreau, French, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross (1799 - 1873).

- Venerable Servant of God Mariano de la Mata Aparicio, Spanish, priest of the Order of Saint Augustine. (1905 - 1983).

- Venerable Servant of God Margarita Maria Lopez de Maturana, Spanish, foundress of the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of Mercy (1884 - 1934).

MARTYRS

 - Servants of God Cruz Laplana y Laguna, Spanish, bishop of Cuenca, Spain (1875 - 1936) and Fernando Espanol Berdie, Spanish, diocesan priest (1875 - 1936).

 - Servant of God Narciso Estenaga Echevarria, Spanish, bishop of Ciudad Real, Spain (1882 - 1936).

- Servant of God Libero Gonzalez Nombela, Spanish, diocesan priest (1896 - 1936).

- Servant of God Eusebio del Bambino Gesu, Spanish, professed priest of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites (1888 - 1936).

- Servant of God Felice Echevarria Gorostiaga, Spanish, professed priest of the Order of the Minor Friars (1893 - 1936).

- Servant of God Teodosio Rafael ne Diodoro Lopez Hernandez, Spanish, professed religious in the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian School (1898 - 1936) and three brothers from the same institute.

- Servant of God Sara Salkahazi, Hungarian, of the Institute of the Sisters of the Assistance (1899 - 1944).


HEROIC VIRTUES

 - Servant of God Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Cardinal of S.R.C., Spanish, archbishop of Toledo, Spain, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cardinal Sancha (1833 - 1909).

- Servant of God Vincenza Maria Poloni ne Luigia, Italian, foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona (1802 - 1855).

- Servant of God Maria Bucchi ne Maria Matilde, Italian, foundress of the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood of Monza (1812 - 1882).

- Servant of God Esperanza Gonzalez Puig, Spanish, foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1823 - 1885).

- Servant of God Cataline Coromina Agusti, Spanish, foundress of the Institute Josephine Sisters of Charity (1824 - 1893).

- Servant of God Maria Dolores Marquez Romero de Onoro, Spanish, foundress of the Congregation of the Philippian Daughters of Sorrowful Mary (1817 - 1904).

- Servant of God Maria Rosa Flesch, German, ne Margherita, foundress of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Mary of the Angels (1826 - 1906).

- Giuseppina Nicoli, Italian, of the Society of the daughters of Charity (1863 - 1924).
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HELP CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE TO FIND TRUE HAPPINESS

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from the Pope to participants in the 12th plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is being held in the Vatican from April 28 to May 2, on the theme: "Vanishing Youth? Solidarity with Children and Young People in an Age of Turbulence."

  Benedict XVI opens his Message by affirming the existence of "two significant and interconnected trends: on the one hand, an increase in life expectancy, and, on the other, a decrease in birth rates."

  "This situation is the result of multiple and complex causes - often of an economic, social and cultural character - which you have proposed to study," he adds. "But its ultimate roots can be seen as moral and spiritual; they are linked to a disturbing deficit of faith, hope and, indeed, love. ... Perhaps the lack of such creative and forward-looking love is the reason why many couples today choose not to marry, why so many marriages fail, and why birth rates have significantly diminished."

  Often children and young people, "instead of feeling loved and cherished, appear to be merely tolerated. In 'an age of turbulence' they frequently lack adequate moral guidance from the adult world," and many of them "now grow up in a society which is forgetful of God. ... In a world shaped by the accelerating processes of globalization, they are often exposed solely to materialistic visions of the universe, of life and human fulfillment."

  "Parents, educators and community leaders ... can never renounce their duty to set before children and young people the task of choosing a life project directed towards authentic happiness, one capable of distinguishing between truth and falsehood, good and evil, justice and injustice, the real world and the world of 'virtual reality'."

  Pope Benedict encourages the participants in the plenary to give "due consideration to the question of human freedom, which is "the condition for authentic human growth. Where such freedom is lacking or endangered, young people experience frustration and become incapable of striving generously for the ideals which can give shape to their lives as individuals and as members of society."

  Christians, the Holy Father concludes, cannot fail "to be convinced that faith, lived out in the fullness of charity and communicated to new generations, is an essential element in the building of a better future and safeguarding intergenerational solidarity."
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POPE'S TELEGRAM FOR VICTIMS OF ATTACK IN NASSIRIYA

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - Following is a telegram sent by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, in the name of the Holy Father, to Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, military ordinary for Italy, regarding the attack of April 27th in Nassiriya, Iraq in which three Italians and one Romanian were killed.

  "The Supreme Pontiff received with great sadness news of the attack in Nassiriya in which three Italian members of the armed forces and a Romanian colleague, generously contributing in a mission of peace, lost their lives. The Holy Father expresses his firm condemnation of this new act of violence which, together with other cruel acts perpetrated in Iraq, constitutes yet another obstacle in the path toward harmony and reconstruction in that tormented country."

  "His Holiness would like to express his profound spiritual closeness to the families of the victims in the midst of a grave sorrow which also effects the Italian and Romanian armed forces and their respective national communities. The Holy Father also assures his fervent prayers for the young lives cut short, invoking heavenly consolation for those who mourn this tragic loss and he sends to all a special apostolic blessing, thinking in particular about those wounded and those, both civilian and military, who are dedicated to the arduous task of helping the people of Iraq, subjugated to so many difficulties."
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