OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 10 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

 - Msgr. Juan Fernando Usma Gomez, official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, as bureau chief at the same dicastery.

 - Msgr. Boguslaw Turek C.S.M.A. as bureau chief at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 10 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences five prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Archbishop Fernando Antonio Saburido O.S.B. of Olinda and Recife.

    - Bishop Bernardino Marchio of Caruaru.

    - Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino of Floresta.

    - Bishop Fernando Jose Monteiro Guimares C.SS.R. of Garanhuns.

    - Bishop Severino Batista de Franca O.F.M. Cap. of Nazare.
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HOLY FATHER TO MEET WITH ARTISTS ON 21 NOVEMBER

VATICAN CITY, 10 SEP 2009 (VIS) - A press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office this morning to present Benedict XVI's forthcoming meeting with artists, which is due to take place in the Sistine Chapel on 21 November.

  Among those participating in the press conference were Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church, and Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums.

  Archbishop Ravasi explained how his dicastery is promoting and organising the meeting, which will coincide with the tenth anniversary of John Paul II's Letter to Artists of 4 April 1999, and the forty-fifth anniversary of Paul VI's meeting with artists of 7 May 1964.

  "The aim of the meeting", said the archbishop, "is to renew friendship and dialogue between the Church and artists, and to encourage new opportunities for collaboration".

  For his part, Antonio Paolucci explained how the artists invited, their numbers necessarily limited due to the space available in the Sistine Chapel, come from all the continents, "They are", he said, "men and women of different cultures and languages: ... painters, sculptors, architects, writers and poets, musicians and singers, directors and actors from cinema and theatre, dancers".

  On the evening of 20 November, before their meeting with the Holy Father on 21 November, the artists will visit the Vatican Museums' collection of modern and contemporary art, which was created at the express wish of Paul VI.
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DISCOVER SPIRITUAL, RELIGIOUS DIMENSION OF THE ENVIRONMENT

VATICAN CITY, 10 SEP 2009 (VIS) - This morning in the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo Benedict XVI received a group of sponsors of the Holy See's Pavilion at "Expo Zaragoza 2008", an international exposition held in the Spanish city of Zaragoza in 2008 on the theme: "Water and sustainable development". The group included Francisco Vazquez, Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, and Archbishop Manuel Urena Pastor of Zaragoza.

  In his address the Pope noted how the pavilion, which "was one of the most visited and appreciated, contained an important display of the priceless artistic, cultural and religious heritage of the Church. The aim of this initiative was to offer the many visitors an opportunity to reflect upon the significance and primordial importance water has for human life".

  "By participating in the exposition", the Holy Father explained, "the Holy See wished to demonstrate not only the urgent need constantly to defend the environment and the natural world, but also to discover its more profound spiritual and religious dimension. ... The truth is that when God, through creation, gave man the keys to the earth, He wanted him to use this great gift responsibly and respectfully, making it fruitful. ... In this context it is important to reiterate the close relationship between protection of the environment and respect for the ethical requirements of human nature, because 'when human ecology is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits'".

  Pope Benedict XVI concluded his remarks by entrusting the promoters of the Holy See pavilion to Our Lady of the Pillar "at whose feet flow the abundant waters of the River Ebro".
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