PROJECTS FOR INDIGENOUS, MIXED RACE AND AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The administrative council of the Populorum Progressio Foundation is holding its annual meeting from 24 to 27 July at the Pastoral Care and Spirituality Centre of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, to deliberate on the financing of projects in support of poor indigenous, mixed race and African-American communities of Latin America and the Caribbean. Populorum Progressio, which was founded in 1992, is part of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum".

The administrative council is composed of the following members: Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Foundation and of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum"; Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico and president of the administrative council; Archbishop Edmundo Luis Abastoflor Montero of La Paz, Bolivia and vice president of the administrative council; Archbishop Murilo Sebastiao Ramos Krieger S.C.I. of Sao Sebastiao da Bahia, Brazil; Archbishop Javier Augusto del Rio Alba of Arequipa, Peru; Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil, Ecuador; Archbishop Oscar Urbina Ortega of Villavicencio, Colombia, and Msgr. Segundo Tejado Munoz, under secretary of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum". Archbishops Ramos Krieger and del Rio Alba joined the council this year as new representatives, respectively, of Brazil and Peru.

The Foundation receives its principal financial support from the Italian Episcopal Conference's committee for charitable initiatives in favour of the Third World, and from private donors. The administrative council traditionally holds its annual session in a country of Latin America or the Caribbean in order to draw attention to the activities and initiatives of the particular Churches there.

A total of 203 projects have been presented this year, involving 19 countries and a total value of USD 2,908,727. The number of projects presented by country are: Brazil (59), Colombia (42), Peru (15), Ecuador (16), El Salvador (6), Haiti (12), Guatemala (5), Argentina (5), Bolivia (10), Paraguay (4), Chile (4), Cuba (5), Costa Rica (6), Mexico (3), Venezuela (2), Nicaragua (3), Dominican Republic (2), Honduras (2) and Uruguay (2).

The Foundation is currently going through a period of renewal, both of its membership and secretariat, with the aim of identifying new ways to propagate the activities of Populorum Progressio. This will include a project to be presented to the members by Juan Carlos Navarro, an expert on foundations, with the assistance of Msgr. Silverio Nieto, juridical consultant of "Cor Unum", containing possible changes to the working methods of the Foundation. This year's meeting will also serve to elect a new president and vice president of the administrative council.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley, Scotland, as metropolitan archbishop of Glasgow (area 1,165, population 815,200, Catholics 193,200, priests 192, permanent deacons 15, religious 250), Scotland. He succeeds Archbishop Mario Conti, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Lutsk of the Latins, Ukraine, presented by Bishop Markyian Trofym'yak, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law, appointing Bishop Stanislav Szyrokoradiuk O.F.M., auxiliary of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, Ukraine, as apostolic administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of Lutsk of the Latins.

- Appointed Fr. Tadeusz Wojda S.A.C., bureau chief of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, as under secretary of the same congregation.