Tuesday, June 10, 2014

TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF CARDINAL BERNARD AGRE


Vatican City, 10 June 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has sent a telegram of condolences to Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, for the death of Cardinal Bernard Agre, archbishop emeritus of Abidjan, who passed away in Paris yesterday, Monday 9 June, at the age of 88.

The Pope expresses his sadness and recollects “this faithful pastor who, during a long and fruitful episcopate, served the Church with faith and generosity. With his intense pastoral activity, the late cardinal was a man of God, devoted to the proclamation of the Gospel and the human and spiritual development of the people”.

PROGRAMME OF THE POPE'S VISIT TO CASSANO ALL'JONIO


Vatican City, 10 June 2014 (VIS) – Today the Holy See Press Office has published the programme of the pastoral visit Pope Francis will make on Saturday, 21 June, to the diocese of Cassano all'Jonio in the province of Cosenza, in the Italian region of Calabria.

The Holy Father will leave the Vatican by helicopter at 7.25 a.m., and will land in the square in front of the “Rosetta Sisca” penitentiary of Castrovillari, where he will meet with detainees, prison staff, and their families. From there he will proceed to Cassano all'Jonio, again by helicopter, where he will land in the “Pietro Toscano” sports field. Following a brief welcome ceremony he will visit the “Giuseppe Moscati” centre for palliative care for the terminally ill.

At midday he will meet with the clergy of the diocese at the cathedral, and around 1 p.m. he will lunch in the John Paul I seminary with the poor assisted by the diocesan Caritas and with the young people in the “Mauro Rostagno” residential therapeutic rehabilitation centre. At 2.30 p.m. he will visit the elderly in the “Casa Serena” residence and at 4 p.m. he will celebrate Holy Mass at Piana di Sibari.

The Holy Father will leave at 6 p.m., leaving from the heliport at Marina di Sibari and arriving in the Vatican at 7.30 p.m.


THE “POPULORUM PROGRESSIO” FOUNDATION FOR LATIN AMERICA MEETS IN THE VATICAN


Vatican City, 10 June 2014 (VIS) – The managing board of the Foundation “Populorum Progressio” for Latin America, which upon its institution in 1992 was entrusted by St. John Paul II to the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”, will hold its annual meeting in the Vatican from 10 to 14 July.

The members of the board are Cardinal Robert Sarah, president ex officio of the Foundation; Archbishop Edmundo Luis Flavio Abastoflor Montero of La Paz, Bolivia, president of the managing board; Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil, Ecuador, vice-president; Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, archbishop of Santo Domingo; and Archbishop Oscar Urbina Ortega of Villavicencio, Colombia; Archbishop Murilo Sebastiao Ramos Krieger of Sao Salvador de Bahia, Brazil; Archbishop Javier Augusto de Rio Alba of Arequipa, Peru, and Msgr. Segundo Tejada Munoz, representative of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”.

During the meeting the members of the managing board discussed the financing of projects to assist indigenous, mestizo, Afro-American and peasant populations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The meeting will offer an opportunity for reflection, taking as a starting point the directions given by the Holy Father, on the most effective ways of providing the service of charity of a “poor Church for the poor”, who fulfils her mission in the human and existential peripheries, and with particular attention to those most in need.

So far approximately four thousand projects have been carried out by the Foundation, funded by a total of more than 35 million dollars. They are all characterised by a participatory approach involving local communities and are directed at various sectors, including agriculture and animal husbandry, crafts and cottage industries, infrastructure for drinking water, training and provision for schools, health care, and construction.