PAPAL AND HOLY SEE HIGHLIGHTS FOR JANUARY – APRIL 2014

Vatican City, 30 July 2014 (VIS) – The following are highlights of the activities of Pope Francis and the Holy See during the months of January to April 2014.

JANUARY

6: Private visit to the Roman parish of Sant'Alfonso Maria de' Liguori alla Giustiniana, Rome.

9: The Holy Father receives in audience Severin Mathias Akeo, the new ambassador of Cote d'Ivoire to the Holy See, presenting his credential letters.

16: Publication of the Holy Father's message for the 51st World Day of Prayer for Vocations (11 May) on the theme “Vocations: Witness to the Truth”.

18: The Holy Father nominates Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as his special envoy to Panama for the closing ceremony of the jubilee year convoked for the fifth centenary of the erection of the first diocese (Santa Maria la Antigua) on the American continent (14-15 February 2014).

19: Pastoral visit to the Roman parish of “Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio”.

22: Pope's message to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

23: Presentation of the Holy Father's message for the 48th World Day of Social Communication, entitled, “Communication at the service of an authentic culture of encounter”.

24: The Holy Father receives in audience the president of the French Republic, Francois Hollande.

25: Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”, visits the areas struck by the typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda in the Philippines on 8 November 2013.

27 and 30: Audience with prelates of the Austrian Bishops' Conference, on their “ad limina” visit.

31: Presentation of the Year for Consecrated Life, convoked by Pope Francis in 2015.

FEBRUARY

3: The Holy Father received in audience His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, head of State of the Independent State of Samoa.

4: Presentation of the Holy Father's Lenten message for 2014, entitled “He became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (cf. 2 Cor 8,9).

6: Publication of the Holy Father's message, dated 21 January 2014, to the young people preparing for the 29th World Youth Day 2014, on the theme: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”.

6: The Holy Father receives in audience Wafaa Ashraf Moharram Bassim, ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the Holy See, presenting her credential letters.

7: Audience with the bishops of the Polish Episcopal Conference, at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

13: Audience with the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Bulgaria, at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

14: The Holy Father meets with ten thousand engaged couples from all over the world on the feast of St. Valentine. The encounter, organised by the Pontifical Council for the Family, takes as its theme “The joy of 'Yes' for ever”.

14: The Pope receives in audience prelates of the Czech Bishops' Conference at the end of their “ad limina” visit.

15: Audience with the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades.

16: Pastoral visit to the Roman parish of “San Tommaso Apostolo” in the Infernetto quarter.

17-19: The Pope meets with the Council of Cardinals, created on 13 April 2013 and confirmed by the chirograph of 28 September, to assist in the governance of the Universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution “Pastor bonus” on the Roman Curia.

20-21: Extraordinary Consistory on the family.

21: The Holy Father receives in audience Dilma Rousseff, president of Brazil, on the occasion of the Consistory in which Archbishop Orani Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro is created a cardinal.

22: Ordinary Public Consistory for the creation of 19 new cardinals.

24: Motu proprio, “Fidelis et dispensator prudens”, (Lk 12,42), by which the Holy Father constitutes a new framework for the coordination of economic and administrative matters of the Holy See and Vatican City State.

24: The president of the Republic of Haiti, Michael Joseph Martelly, is received in audience by Pope Francis.

25: Publication of a letter addressed by Pope Francis to families in view of the upcoming Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, scheduled for October 2014, on the theme “The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelisation”.

27: Presentation of the protocol for the Holy See's participation in Expo Milan 2015, on the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”.

MARCH

1: The Holy Father receives in audience Victor Ponta, prime minister of Romania.

3: Audience with the prelates of the Spanish Episcopal Conference at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

3: The Pope appoints Msgr. Alfred Xuereb, official of the Secretariat of State, as prelate secretary general of the Secretariat for the Economy.

4: The Pope opens the gardens of the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo.

10: It is made public that from 13 to 18 August, the Holy Father will make an apostolic trip to the Republic of Korea, on the occasion of the 6th Asian Youth Day, to be held in the diocese of Daejeon.

12: Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo, patriarch emeritus of Lisbon, Portugal, dies at the age of 78.

16: Pastoral visit to the Roman parish of “Santa Maria dell'Orazione” at Setteville di Guidonia, in the north sector of the diocese of Rome.

17: Audience with the three prelates of the Episcopal Conference of East Timor on their “ad limina” visit.

17: Christina Kirchner, president of the Argentine Republic, pays a private visit to the Holy Father.

17: Presentation of the “Global Freedom Network”, an agreement between representatives of the great world religions to combat modern forms of slavery and human trafficking, in collaboration with the “Walk Free Foundation”.

20: The Pope receives in audience Filip Vujanovic, president of the Republic of Montenegro.

20: Agreement signed by the NTT Data Corporation and the Vatican Apostolic Library to digitally archive 82,000 manuscripts.

21: Pope Francis nominates Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family, as his special envoy to the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the destruction and reconstruction of the Abbey of Montecassino, Italy.

21: The Holy Father receives in audience the President of the Republic of Malta, George Abela.

21: Death of His Holiness Mar Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, at the age of 80.

22: Pope Francis receives in audience Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

22: The Holy Father Francis institutes the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

22: Msgr. Brian Ferme is appointed as prelate secretary of the Council for the Economy.

22: The Holy Father appoints Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, as his special envoy to the celebration commemorating the 650th anniversary of the consecration of the Cathedral of Krakow, Poland on 28 March.

24: Audience with the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Guinea at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

25: The Holy Father appoints Bishop Nunzio Galantino of Cassano all'Jonio, Italy, as secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference for a five-year term.

26: Pope Francis receives in audience Barack H. Obama, president of the United States of America.

27: Pope Francis receives in audience Karolos Papoulias, president of the Hellenic Republic.

28: The Holy Father receives the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Madagascar at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

APRIL

3: The Holy Father receives in audience Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

3: Pope Francis receives in audience the bishops of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Rwanda at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

5: The Holy Father Francis receives in audience Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, president of the Republic of Liberia.

6: Visit to the Roman parish of St. Gregory the Great, in the west of the diocese of Rome.

7: Pope Francis receives in audience the bishops of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, at the end of their five-yearly “ad limina” visit.

7: His Majesty Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, King of Jordan, is received in audience by the Holy Father.

8: Death of His Beatitude Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch emeritus of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq, at the age of 87.

10: The Pope receives in audience Zvonimir Jankuloski, ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia at the Holy See, presenting his credential letters.

12: Cardinal Orani Joao Tempesta, archbishop of Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, takes possession of the title of St. Mary Mother of Providence in Monte Verde, Via di Donna Olimpia, 35.

17: Holy Mass “in cena Domini” at the St. Mary of Providence Centre of the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, Rome.

24: Cardinal Orlando B. Quevedo, O.M.I., archbishop of Cotabato, Philippines, takes of the title of St. Mary “Regina Mundi” in Torre Spaccata, Via Alessandro Barbosi, 6.

25: Audience with the bishops of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, from South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland, at the end of their “ad limina” visit.

26: The Holy Father receives in audience the prime minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

26: The Holy Father receives in audience Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado, president of the Republic of Honduras, with his wife and entourage.

26: Pope Francis receives in audience Their Majesties King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium.

26: Pope Francis receives in audience Bronislaw Komorowski, president of the Republic of Poland, with his wife and entourage.

27: Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), canonisation of Blesseds Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

27: Cardinal Philippe Nakellentuba Ouedraogo, archbishop of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, takes possession of the title of St. Mary the Consoler at Tiburtino, Via de Casal Bertone, 80.

28: Pope Francis receives Their Majesties King Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain.

28-30: Pope Francis' fourth meeting with the “Council of Cardinals”, created by the Holy Father to help with the governance of the universal Church and to draw up a plan for the revision of the Apostolic Constitution “Pasto bonus” on the Roman Curia.