Pope Receives Polish Prime Minister: Efficient Cooperation for Pope's Visit

Vatican City, 12 June 2015 (VIS) - This morning, Pope Francis received in audience the President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland, Ms. Ewa Kopacz, who subsequently met with Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.

During the course of the cordial discussions, the serene and efficient cooperation in preparation of His Holiness’s planned visit to Poland in 2016 for the occasion of World Youth Day was appreciated. The positive contribution of the Church in Poland in the current socio-economic context was then discussed, as well as some ethical issues.

As the conversation continued, there was an exchange of views on the international situation, with particular emphasis given to the Ukraine.

Pope Receives Airport Chaplains

Vatican City, 12 June 2015 (VIS) – This morning Pope Francis received the participants of the International Seminar of Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains and Chaplaincy organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples on the theme “Evangelii gaudium: What Support for the Pastoral Care of Airport Chaplaincy?”

Airports, Pope Francis recalled are meeting places for many people who are travelling for many reasons. They are also points of transit for migrants and refugees, children and the elderly, who need special care and attention, as well as those who work there every day. “We also have to note,” the pontiff emphasized, “the troubling number of passengers without documents – often refugees and asylum seekers – who are detained in airport premises for long or short periods, sometimes without adequate spiritual and human assistance. Sometimes tragic situations occur due to, for example, accidents or hijacking, with serious consequences for the safety and the psychological status of persons. In these circumstances too, Chaplains are called upon and sought after by those who need comfort and encouragement.

Given its characteristics, airport chaplaincy is called to be “a place of unity in diversity for all categories of persons. Airports seem cities within cities, where multiple realities intertwine and overlap. As a big city, the airport is a cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious environment and you, chaplains and members of the chaplaincy, you are immersed in the life of this unique community. Therefore, it is important to work meekly and to be more attuned to the Holy Spirit who creates unity in diversity.”

The Holy Father concluded his brief speech inviting the chaplains to work to ensure that those special “border” positions that airports constitute have “space for finding and practicing love and dialogue, which nourishes fraternity between persons and preserves a peaceful social climate. I pray together with you that the Lord make your apostolate, which participates in the Church's universal mission, an effective proclamation of the Good News.

AUDIENCES

Vatican City, 12 June 2015 Today, the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli, archbishop of Ancona-Osimo, Italy, and

- Fr. Ricardo Facci, S.M.F., founder and president of Hogares nuevos – Obra de Cristo (New Homes – Christ's Work), in Argentina.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 12 June 2015 – Today the Holy Father has:

- appointed Bishop Thomas Ignatius Macwan as archbishop of Gandhinagar (area 29,942, population 11,123,000, Catholics 15,683, priests 28, religious 112), India. Archbishop Macwan, previously Bishop of Ahmedabad, India, succeeds Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, S.J., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the Archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- appointed Msgr. Victor C. Ocampo as bishop of Gumaca (area 3,666, population 1,027,000, Catholics 912,000, priests 64, religious 65), Filippines. Bishop-elect Ocampo was born in Angeles City, Pampanga in the Diocese of Balanga, Filippines in 1952. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Balanga in 1977. Since ordination he has served in various pastoral and diocesan roles, most recently as chancellor of the Diocese of Balanga (since 2008); pastor of St. Dominic de Guzman Parish in Abuvay, Balanga (since 1986); director of the Biblical Apostolate (since 1986); director of the Commission on the Family and Life (since 2008); and member of the College of Consultors (since 2013).

- named Sr. Marcella Farina, F.M.A, as a consultor to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Sr. Farina is a professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology at the “Auxilium” Pontifical Faculty of Education Science, Rome, Italy.