OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 12, 2007 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Edwin Frederick O'Brien, military ordinary for the U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Baltimore (area 12,430, population 3,055,477, Catholics 517,679, priests 545, permanent deacons 178, religious 1,380), U.S.A. He succeeds Cardinal William Henry Keeler, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
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MESSAGE FROM POPE FOR A CONCERT ORGANIZED IN HIS HONOR

VATICAN CITY, JUL 12, 2007 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from the Holy Father to the pastor of Lorenzago di Cadore, the alpine resort in which the pope is currently spending a vacation. The message concerns a concert organized in his honor yesterday, Feast of St. Benedict.

  In the Message, which was read out yesterday evening in the parish church at the start of the concert, the Pope expresses his thanks for "the welcome I was shown when I arrived in this beautiful place surrounded by magnificent woods and the majestic Dolomite Mountains.

  "I am especially grateful," he adds, "for people's expression of best wishes for a fruitful period of rest, much appreciated because supported by prayer upon which I depend in order to accomplish the mission the Lord has entrusted to me."

  Referring to the concert and to the presentation of an exhibition dedicated to "artistic treasures in the churches of the Alto Bellunese region," to honor "St. Benedict, patron saint of Europe on his feast day," the Pope expresses his gratitude to the musician Jose Luis Gonzalez Uriol for the recital in which he will play the church's "historic organ ... recently restored." He also thanks the members of the "Schola Cantorum" of Lorenzago, recalling St. Augustine's phrase that "one who sings prays twice."

  Benedict XVI concludes his brief Message by giving assurances of his "spiritual participation" in the event and sending the community of Lorenzago di Cadore his "cordial and affectionate greetings."
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