OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 5 MAR 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Aitape, Papua New Guinea, presented by Bishop Austen Robin Crapp O.F.M., upon having reached the age limit.
RE/.../CRAPP                                VIS 20090305 (50)

POPE TO VISIT ROME TOWN HALL ON 9 MARCH

VATICAN CITY, 5 MAR 2009 (VIS) - Made public today was the programme of Benedict XVI's visit to the Town Hall of Rome, scheduled to take place on the morning of Monday 9 March.

  The Pope will arrive at the Town Hall, located on Rome's Capitoline Hill, at 10.50 a.m. where he will be welcomed by Mayor Gianni Alemanno. He will then attend an extraordinary sitting of the municipal council at which he is due to deliver an address. At 12.20 p.m. the Pope will appear at the loggia on Palazzo Senatorio to greet citizens gathered in the square below.

  Leaving the Town Hall, the Holy Father will travel to the nearby monastery of Santa Francesca Romana at Tor de' Specchi. Having paused in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and venerated the saint's body in the chapel of the choir, he will pronounce a brief address.

  The Holy Father is due to return to the Vatican at 1.15 p.m.
OP/POPE VISIT TOWN HALL/ROME                VIS 20090305 (180)