HOLY FATHER'S GRIEF OVER DEATH OF ITALIAN SOLDIERS IN KABUL

VATICAN CITY, 18 SEP 2009 (VIS) - Benedict XVI yesterday expressed his grief at the death of six Italian soldiers, members of the "Folgore" parachute regiment, in a bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, which also caused the deaths of fifteen other people.

  The Holy Father gave assurances of his prayers for the victims and expressed his "closeness to the families and to everyone involved", declared Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J.

  "What causes most sorrow", Fr. Lombardi went on, "is the continuation of such violence against the very people who are working for peace. ... We hope that all this bloodshed may, in the end, give way to the peace to which so many people are committed and are giving their lives".
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 18 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

 - Four prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Archbishop Matias Patricio de Macedo of Natal, accompanied by Archbishop emeritus Heitor de Araujo Sales.

    - Bishop Manoel Delson Pedreira da Cruz of Caico O.F.M.

    - Bishop Mariano Manzana of Mossoro.

 - Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, president of the Department for External Church Affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow.

  This evening he is scheduled to receive in audience Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa, Italy, and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
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IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, 18 SEP 2009 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

 - Bishop Paul Le Dac Trong, former auxiliary of Hanoi, Vietnam, on 7 September at the age of 91.

 - Bishop Giovanni Melis Fois, emeritus of Nuoro, Italy, on 3 September at the age of 92.

 - Bishop Andrzej Jozef Sliwinski, emeritus of Elblag, Poland, on 9 September at the age of 70.
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