HOLY FATHER RECEIVES PRESIDENT OF UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Vatican City, 15 June 2012 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office released the following communique at midday today:

"This morning the Holy Father received in audience Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, president of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The president subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.

"The central theme of the cordial discussions was the role of the United Nations Organisation, and especially of the General Assembly, in conflict resolution. Particular consideration was given to the conflicts currently affecting various regions of the world, especially Africa and the Middle East, and to the serious humanitarian emergencies they provoke.

"Attention then turned to the Catholic Church's contribution to peace and development, and to the importance of cooperation between religions and cultures".

AUDIENCES

Vatican City, 15 June 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience twelve prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, on their "ad limina" visit:

- Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota.

- Bishop Hector Luis Gutierrez Pabon of Engativa.

- Bishop Luis Antonio Nova Rocha of Facatativa.

- Bishop Juan Vicente Cordoba Villota S.J. of Fontibon.

- Bishop Hector Julio Lopez Hurtado S.D.B. of Girardot.

- Bishop Daniel Caro Borda of Soacha.

- Bishop Fabio Suescun Mutis, military ordinary.

- Archbishop Ismael Rueda Sierra of Bucaramanga.

- Bishop Camilo Fernando Castrellon Pizano S.D.B. of Barrancabermeja.

- Bishop Victor Manuel Ochoa Cadavid of Malaga-Soata.

- Bishop Carlos German Mesa Ruiz of Socorro y San Gil.

- Bishop Luis Albeiro Cortes Rendon of Velez.

This evening he is scheduled to receive in audience Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 15 June 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Valery Vienneau of Bathurst in Canada, Canada, as metropolitan archbishop of Moncton (area 12,000, population 223,000, Catholics 116,400, priests 48, permanent deacons 1, religious 265), Canada. He succeeds Archbishop Andre Richard C.S.C., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Jean-Yves Riocreux of Pontoise, France, as bishop of Basse-Terre et Pointe-a-Pitre (area 1,780, population 460,000, Catholics 384,000, priests 56, permanent deacons 11, religious 183), France (Antilles).

- Appointed Bishop Pascal Roland of Moulins, France, as bishop of Belley-Ars (area 5,554, population 591,365, Catholics 352,600, priests 177, permanent deacons 14, religious 287), France. He succeeds Bishop Guy Bagnard, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Harry Entwistle as the first ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross. The Ordinariate was today erected on the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution "Anglicanorum coetibus".