POPE SUCCESSFULLY OPERATED FOR WRIST FRACTURE

VATICAN CITY, 17 JUL 2009 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI underwent surgery at the Umberto Parini hospital in the Italian town of Aosta for a fracture to his right wrist. He had suffered a fall last night in his chalet at Les Combes in Valle d'Aosta where he is spending a brief holiday.

The Holy Father arrived at the hospital at 9:45 a.m. this morning. "Even so", declared Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi, "he celebrated Mass and had breakfast early this morning".

Later the Pope "underwent an operation to realign the fractured fragments and fasten them through osteosynthesis, using a local anaesthetic then applying a cast. The Holy Father's general condition is good" added the Pope's doctor Patrizio Polisca, specifying that "the Pope will return shortly to his residence".

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MEETING OF "POPULORUM PROGRESSIO" ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL

VATICAN CITY, 17 JUL 2009 (VIS) - The annual meeting of the administrative council of the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation is due to be held from 27 to 31 July at the Schwerte Catholic Academy in the archdiocese of Paderborn, Germany, to consider the financing of projects in support of poor indigenous mixed race and Afro-American rural communities of Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to a communique made public today, the administrative council is composed of the following members: Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico (president); Archbishop Edmundo Luis Flavio Abastoflor Montero of La Paz, Bolivia; Archbishop Alberto Taveira Correa of Palmas, Brazil; Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil, Ecuador; Bishop Jose Luis Astigarraga Lizarralde C.P., apostolic vicar of Yurimaguas, Peru, and Msgr. Segundo Tejado Munoz, representative of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum". Also present at the meeting will be Msgr. Giovanni Battista Gandolfo, the new president of the Italian Episcopal Conference's committee for charitable initiatives in favour of the Third World, which is the main supporter of the Foundation.

"These meetings traditionally take place by rotation in the Latin American countries of origin of the members of the administrative council", explains the communique. "Having completed the round, it was decided (also with the aim of giving the Foundation's activities visibility in Europe) to hold the meeting in Germany, country of origin of Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Foundation and of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum".

After recalling how the Foundation, "with the help of contributions from benefactors all over the world, finances projects that focus on integral human formation", the communique specifies that "this year a total of 231 projects have been presented, covering 20 countries and various different sectors including: manufacturing (agricultural implements, production and marketing), healthcare, professional training, creation of community centres, school education and the construction of rural dwellings".

Among the countries that have presented the greatest number of projects are Colombia (52), Brazil (45), Peru (32) and Ecuador (17). They are followed by Bolivia (12), El Salvador (12), Haiti (11), Mexico (9), Guatemala (7), Argentina (6), Chile (6), Costa Rica (5), Nicaragua (3), Dominican Republic (3), Venezuela (3), Cuba (2), Honduras (2), Paraguay (2), Panama (1) and Uruguay (1).

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 17 JUL 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Adam Leszek Musialek S.C.I., pastor at Pietermaritzburg in the archdiocese of Durban, South Africa, as bishop De Aar (area 67,248, population 165,500, Catholics 5,824, priests 8, religious 27) South Africa. The bishop-elect was born in Wieruszow, Poland in 1957 and ordained a priest in 1983. He succeeds Bishop Joseph James Potocnak S.C.I., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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