OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 22 APR 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Hugo Nicolas Barbaro, spiritual director of the prelature of Opus Dei in Argentina, as bishop of the diocese of San Roque de Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena (area 71,303, population 495,000, Catholics 422,000, priests 37, permanent deacons 6, religious 126), Argentina. The bishop-elect was born in Vicente Lopez, Argentina in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1980. He succeeds Jose Lorenzo Sartori, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
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CARDINAL VINGT-TROIS, POSSESSION OF TITULAR CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, 22 APR 2008 (VIS) - The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff announced today that at 11 a.m. on Sunday 27 April Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, metropolitan archbishop of Paris, France, will take possession of the title of San Luigi dei Francesi, Largo Santa Giovanna d'Arco 5, Rome.
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FACING THE CONSEQUENCES OF RAPID URBANISATION

VATICAN CITY, 22 APR 2008 (VIS) - Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, delivered an address on 9 April before the 41st session of the Economic and Social Council's Commission on Population and Development.

  Speaking English, Archbishop Migliore said that "migration and the urbanisation of societies should not be purely measured in terms of their economic impact. In finding ways to address the serious challenges posed by massive internal and trans-national migrations, let us not forget that at the heart of this phenomenon is the human person".

  "New environmental, social and economic problems emerge with the birth of mega cities", he said. "But one of the most pressing and painful consequences of rapid urbanisation is the increasing number of people living in urban slums. As recently as 2005 over 840 million people around the world lived in such conditions".

  Such people, he warned, "become trapped in a vicious cycle of extreme poverty and marginalisation. ... They feel powerless to demand even the most basic public services" and "policy makers and civil society actors must put these people and their concerns among the priorities in their decision-making".

  "If", Archbishop Migliore concluded "we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, greater concern must be given to those communities, in which approximately 675 million still lack access to safe drinking water and two billion live without access to basic sanitation. National and international policies would do well to ensure that rural communities have access to higher quality and more accessible social services".
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PRIESTLY ORDINATION OF 29 DEACONS OF DIOCESE OF ROME

VATICAN CITY, 22 APR 2008 (VIS) - At 9.30 a.m. on Sunday 27 April, the Holy Father Benedict XVI is due to preside at Mass in the Vatican Basilica, during which he will confer priestly ordination upon 29 deacons of the diocese of Rome.
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