PASTORAL VISIT TO SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO

VATICAN CITY, 16 JUN 2009 (VIS) - On Sunday 21 June Benedict XVI will make a pastoral visit to San Giovanni Rotondo in the Italian Region of Puglia.

  He is scheduled to depart from the Vatican by helicopter at 8 a.m. on 21 June, and to land on the "Antonio Massa" sports ground at 9.15 a.m.

  After arrival, his first stop will be at the shrine of Our Lady of Grace where he will make a private visit to venerate the earthly remains of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in the crypt.

  At 10.30. a.m. the Holy Father is scheduled to preside at a Eucharistic concelebration in front of the church of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, and to lead the praying of the Angelus.
   
  At 4.45 p.m. he will visit the "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza", the hospital founded by Padre Pio in 1956, where he will meet patients and medical and administrative staff.

  At 5.30. p.m. he will meet with priests, religious and young people in the church of St. Pio of Pietrelcina.

  At 6.30 p.m. the Holy Father will depart by helicopter for the Vatican, where he is due to arrive an hour later.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 16 JUN 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as archbishop of Colombo (area 3,838, population 5,760,248, Catholics 652,200, priests 497, religious 1,242), Sri Lanka. He succeeds Archbishop Oswald Thomas Colman Gomis, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Fr. Teemu Sippo S.C.I., diocesan administrator of Helsinki, Finland, as bishop of the same diocese (area 338,145, population 5,296,897, Catholics 9,859, priests 21, permanent deacons 1, religious 48). The bishop-elect was born in Lathi, Finland in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1977.

 - Appointed Fr. Joseph Augustine Di Noia O.P., under secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in New York, U.S.A. in 1943 and ordained a priest in 1970.
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