PAPAL AND HOLY SEE HIGHLIGHTS FOR MAY – JULY 2014

Vatican City, 31 July 2014 (VIS) – The following are highlights of the activities of Pope Francis and the Holy See during the months of May to July 2014.

MAY

2: Audience with the president of the Republic of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

2: Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, is nominated as the Pope's special envoy to the consecration of the recently restored shrine to St. Augustine d'Ippona at Annaba, Algeria, to take place on 2 May 2014, the centenary of its elevation to a Basilica.

2: First meeting of the Council for the Economy, instituted by the Holy Father by the Motu proprio “Fidelis dispensator et prudens” on 24 February.

3: Audience with the bishops of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka, at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

5: Audience with the bishops of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi, at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

7-12: The Holy See is guest of honour at the 27th Turin International Book Fair.

8: His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, meets the Holy Father.

9: Audience with the prelates of the Bishops' Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea, at the end of their “ad limina” visit.

10: During his audience with Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Holy Father authorised the dicastery to communicate that the rite of beatification of the Venerable Servant of God Paul VI will take place in the Vatican on 19 October 2014.

11: Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, takes possession of the diaconate of Sant’Anselmo all’Aventino, Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, 5.

12: Death of Cardinal Marco Ce, Patriarch emeritus of Venice, Italy, at the age of 88.

13: Pope Francis presides at the 13th Ordinary Council of the Synod of Bishops.

15: Pope Francis receives the credential letters of seven new ambassadors to the Holy See: Pierre Yves Fux, Switzerland; Rudolf P. von Balimoos, Liberia; Nega Tsegaye Tessema, Ethiopia; Nasreldin Ahmed Wali Abdeltif, Sudan; Margaret Ann Louise Jobson, Jamaica; Claudinah Ntini Ramosepele, South Africa; and Mysore Kapanalah Lokesh, India.

15: The Holy Father receives in audience the Governor General of New Zealand, Sir Jerry Mateparae.

19: Audience with the bishops of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, on their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

19: The Holy Father Francis receives in audience His Majesty Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain.

19: The Holy Father Francis receives in audience the prime minister of Poland, Donald Tusk.

19: The Financial Information Authority (AIF) of the Holy See and the Vatican City State presents its Annual Report for 2013.

19: For the first time, Pope Francis opens the 66th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

21: Audience with Gjorge Ivanov, president of the Republic of Macedonia, with his wife and entourage.

24-26: Pilgrimage in the Holy Land to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the encounter in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and the Patriarch Athenagoras.

25: Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, takes possession of the diaconate of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Via dei Fori Imperiali, 1.

31: Cardinal Kelvin Edward Felix, archbishop emeritus of Castries, Antilles, takes possession of the title of Santa Maria della Salute a Primavalle, Via Tommaso De Vio, 5.

JUNE

2: Audience with the prelates of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, at the end of their “ad limina” visit.

2: Death of Cardinal Simon Duraisamy Lourdusamy, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and archbishop emeritus of Bangalore, India, at the age of 90.

5: The Holy Father meets with His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Cilicia.

6: Audience with the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe.

7: Cardinal Chibly Langlois, bishop of Les Cayes, Haiti, takes possession of the title of San Giacomo in Augusta, Via del Corso, 499.

7: Audience with the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto.

7: The Financial Information Authority (AIF) of the Holy See and Vatican City State, formalises its bilateral cooperation with the U.K., France, Malta, Romania, Poland and Peru.

7: Cardinal Ferdinand Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, is appointed as the Pope's special envoy to the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the diocese of Funchal, in Madeira, Portugal, from 13 to 16 June 2014.

8: Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti takes possession of the title of St. Cecilia, Piazza di St. Cecilia, 22.

8: Invocation for Peace in the Vatican Gardens, an initiative Pope Francis proposed to presidents Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to pray for the gift of peace for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

9: Death of Cardinal Bernard Agre, archbishop emeritus of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, at the age of 88.

12: Ordinary Public Consistory for the canonisation, on 23 November 2014, of Blesseds Giovanni Antonio Farina, bishop of Vicenza, Italy, and founder of the Institute of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts; Kuriakose Elias Chavara of the Holy Family, Indian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate; Ludovico de Casoria, Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Elizabeth (“Bigie”); Nicola da Longobardi, Italian professed oblate of the Order of Minims; Eufrasia Eluvathingal of the Sacred Heart, Indian professed religious of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel, and Amato Ronconi, Italian layperson of the Third Order of St. Francis, founder of the founder of the Hospital-Hospice for Poor Pilgrims of Saludecio, now the Beato Amato Ronconi Nursing Home.

13: Pope Francis receives in audience Danilo Medina Sanchez, president of the Dominican Republic.

14: Publication of the Holy Father's message for the 88th World Mission Day, to be held on 19 October 2014.

15: Visit to the Sant'Egidio Community.

16: Pope Francis receives in audience the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby.

17: The 2014 Ratzinger Prize will be awarded to Professor Anne-Marie Pelletier and Professor Msgr. Waldemar Chrostowski on 22 November.

21: Pastoral visit to the diocese of Cassano all'Jonio, Calabria.

21: Pope Francis appoints Cardinal Jozef Tomko, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, as his special envoy to the 25th anniversary of the liberation of the Greek Catholic eparchy of Mukachevo, to take place in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, on 28 June 2014.

22: Presentation of the Instrumentum laboris of the 3 rd Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (5-19 October 2014), on the theme “The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelisation”.

28: The Pope receives in audience the president of the Republic of Madagascar, Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina.

30: The Holy Father receives in audience Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain.

JULY

1.4: Fifth meeting between the Pope and the Council of Cardinals, instituted by Pope Francis to assist in the governance of the universal Church and to draw up a plan for the review of the Apostolic Constitution “Pastor bonus” on the Roman Curia.

5: Pastoral visit to the dioceses of Campobasso-Boiano and Isernia-Venafro in the region of Molise, Italy.

5: Pope Francis proclaims the Celestine Jubilee Year in the Cathedral Square, Isernia, the birthplace of the hermit Pietro da Morrone, the future Pope Celestine V (1209-1296) who was elected in the Conclave of 1292-1294 and after just five months abdicated from the papacy to resume his life as a hermit.

5: Message from the Holy Father to the Archbishop of Agrigento, Francesco Montenegro, on the first anniversary of the papal visit to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, where he prayed for African migrants who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean.

7: Seven victims of abuse by members of the clergy attend Mass celebrated by the Holy Father in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

8: Motu proprio of the Holy Father Francis on the transfer of the Ordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See to the Secretariat of the Economy.

8: The Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See reports a positive balance for the 2013 Budgets of the Holy See and the Governorate of Vatican City State.

26: Pastoral visit to Caserta.

27: Death of Cardinal Francesco Marchisano, archpriest emeritus of St. Peter's Basilica, at the age of 85.

28: Private visit with the evangelical pastor Giovanni Traettino, Caserta.

29: Announcement of the Holy Father's Apostolic trip to Sri Lanka from 12 to 15 January, and the Philippines from 15 to 19 January 2015.

31: Publication of the programme for Pope Francis' forthcoming Apostolic trip to Tirana, Albania, on 21 September 2014.