OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 19 NOV 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Bishop Mauricio Grotto de Camargo of Assis, Brazil, as archbishop of Botucatu (area 10,348, population 501,000, Catholics 425,000, priests 54, permanent deacons 12, religious 156), Brazil. The archbishop-elect was born in Presidente Prudente, Brazil in 1957, he was ordained a priest in 1981 and consecrated a bishop in 2000. He succeeds Archbishop Aloysio Jose Leal Penna S.J., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
NER:RE/.../GROTTO:LEAL                        VIS 20081119 (100)

MONASTERIES: OASES OF ASCETIC LIFE

VATICAN CITY, 20 NOV 2008 (VIS) - The Pope today received participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which is celebrating its hundredth anniversary this year. The assembly was held from 18 to 20 November.

  Having recalled the theme of the meeting - "Monastic life and its significance in the Church and the world today" - the Holy Father indicated that "consecrated persons are a special part of the People of God. Supporting and protecting their faithfulness to the divine call is the fundamental role you play", he told the members of the dicastery.

  Benedict XVI expressed the view that the work of these days, "which focused particularly on female monastic life, may provide useful guidance to monks and nuns who 'seek God", practising their vocation for the good of the whole Church". In this context he recalled how during his address last September to the world of culture in Paris, France, he had "highlighted the exemplary nature of monastic life in history, and underlined how its aim is both simple and essential: 'quaerere Deum', seeking God and seeking Him through Jesus Christ Who revealed Him, seeking Him by fixing one's gaze on the invisible truths that are eternal, in the expectation of the glorious manifestation of the Saviour".

  "When consecrated people live the Gospel radically, when people dedicated to an entirely contemplative life profoundly cultivate the nuptial bond with Christ, ... then monasticism can, for all forms of religious and consecrated life, become a reminder of what is of essential and primary importance for all the baptised: seeking Christ and placing nothing before His love.

  "The way indicated by God for this search and this love is His own Word", the Pope added, "abundantly present in the books of Sacred Scripture for mankind to reflect upon".

  The recent Synod on the Word of God "renewed its appeal to all Christians to root their lives in listening to the Word of God as contained in Sacred Scripture, and invited religious communities in particular, and all consecrated men and women, to make the Word of God their daily sustenance, especially through the practice of 'lectio divina'".

  The Holy Father concluded by expressing the hope that "monasteries may increasingly become oases of ascetic life, where the allure of the nuptial union with Christ is felt, and where the choice of the Absolute ... is immersed in a climate of constant silence and contemplation".
AC/MONASTIC LIFE/...                        VIS 20081120 (420)

BEATIFICATION RITES APPROVED BY THE HOLY FATHER

VATICAN CITY, 20 NOV 2008 (VIS) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff today announced two beatification ceremonies due to take place over coming days:

  Servant of God Peter Kibe Kasui, Japanese priest of the Company of Jesus, and 187 companions, killed in Japan between 1603 and 1639; at midday on Monday 24 November in the Nagasaki Big N. Stadium, Japan.

  Servant of God Jose Olallo Valdes, Cuban professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God (1820-1889); at 8 a.m. on Saturday 29 November in the Plaza de la Caridad of Camaguey, Cuba.
OCL/BEATIFICATIONS/...                        VIS 20081120 (110)

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 20 NOV 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

 - Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

 - Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Toledo, Spain.
AP/.../...                                VIS 20081120 (50)

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 20 NOV 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

 - Msgr. Rosolino Bianchetti Boffelli of the clergy of the diocese of Quiche, Guatemala, vicar general and pastor of the parish of "San Antonio Ilotenango", as bishop of Zacapa (area 5,066, population 525,000, Catholics 420,000, priests 32, permanent deacons 1, religious 63), Guatemala, and prelate of Santo Cristo de Esquipulas (area 532, population 52,700, Catholics 42,000, religious 39), Guatemala. The bishop-elect was born in Camisano, Italy in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1974.

 - Bishop Laszlo Biro, auxiliary of Kalocsa-Kecskemet, Hungary, as military ordinary for Hungary.
NER/.../BIANCHETTI:BIRO                    VIS 20081120 (110)