PROGRAMME OF BENEDICT XVI'S APOSTOLIC TRIP TO CYPRUS

VATICAN CITY, 10 APR 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father will make an apostolic trip to Cyprus from 4 to 6 June, during the course of which the "Instrumentum laboris" of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops will be published.

  The Pope will depart from Rome's Fiumicino airport at 9.30 a.m. and is due to arrive in Paphos at 2 p.m. Following the welcome ceremony, he will travel to the church of Agia Kiriaki Chrysopolitissa, where he will participate in an ecumenical ceremony and pronounce an address.

  On Saturday 5 June the Holy Father will pay a courtesy visit to Dimitris Christofias, president of the Republic of Cyprus, at the presidential palace in Nicosia, where he will also meet the civil authorities and the diplomatic corps. At 10.45 that morning he will meet with the Catholic community of Cyprus at the sports field of St. Maron primary school in Nicosia. At 12.15 p.m. he is scheduled to meet His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, archbishop of New Justiniana and All Cyprus, at the Orthodox archbishopric. The day will end with Mass in the Latin parish church of the Holy Cross attended by priests, religious and representatives of Cyprian ecclesial movements.

  At 9.30 a.m. on Sunday 6 June the Pope will celebrate Mass at Nicosia's Eleftheria sports centre for the occasion of the publication of the "Instrumentum laboris" of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. At 1 p.m. he will have lunch at the apostolic nunciature in Nicosia with patriarchs and bishops of the Special Council for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, and His Beatitude Chrysostomos II. That afternoon the Holy Father will visit the Maronite cathedral of Cyprus, from which he will travel to Larnaca airport for his return flight to Rome, which is scheduled to depart at 6.15 p.m.

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PLENARY ASSEMBLY OF THE PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION

VATICAN CITY, 10 APR 2010 (VIS) - The Pontifical Biblical Commission will celebrate its annual plenary meeting at the Vatican's "Domus Sanctae Marthae" from 12 to 16 April, under the presidency of Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Fr. Klemens Stock S.J., secretary general of the commission, will oversee and direct the work of the assembly.

  During their meeting, the members of the commission will turn their attention to the subject of "Inspiration and Truth of the Bible". As the first stage of its study, the commission has chosen to concentrate its efforts on verifying how the themes of inspiration and truth appear in the various texts of the Bible. On the basis of their individual competencies, each member will present a report which will then be discussed collegially by the assembly.
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CHURCH'S MISSION: PROCLAIM THE MERCIFUL LOVE OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, 11 APR 2010 (VIS) - At noon, Benedict XVI, at Castelgandolfo since the Sunday of the Resurrection, recited the Regina Coeli with the faithful in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of this city.

  Before the Marian oration, the Holy Father recalled that John Paul II dedicated this Sunday, which concludes the Octave of Easter to Divine Mercy and said: "The pages of the Gospel of Saint John (20:19-31) are full of divine mercy and goodness. It is told that Jesus, after the Resurrection, visited his disciples, crossing the closed doors of the house".

 He continued: "Jesus shows the signs of the passion, to allowing the doubting Thomas to touch them. However, how is it possible that a disciple doubts? In reality, divine condescendence allows us to draw even from the incredulity of Saint Thomas as well as from the believing disciples. In fact, touching the Lord's wounds, the hesitant disciple heals not only his own diffidence, but also ours.".

The visit by the Risen One, the Pope explained,  "is not limited to the house, but it goes beyond, so that all may receive the gift of peace and life with the 'creating Breath'. In fact, twice Jesus said to the disciples: 'Peace be with you!', and added: 'As the Father has sent me, so I send you'. After saying this he breathed on them, saying: 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'."

"This is the mission of the Church constantly assisted by the Paraclete: to bring to all the good news, the joyous reality of God's merciful Love, that you may (...) believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you will receive life in his name".

"In the light of these words, I encourage, in particular, all the Shepherds to follow the example of the holy Curate of Ars who, 'at his time, knew how to transform the hearts and lives of so many persons, because he made them perceive the merciful love of the Lord. Today, we also need a similar proclamation and a similar testimonial of the truth of Love. In this way we make Him that our eyes have never seen be evermore familiar and close, He whose infinite Mercy is an absolute certitude", the Pope concluded.

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POPE'S CONDOLENCES FOR PLANE ACCIDENT TO THE POLISH NATION

VATICAN CITY, 11 APR 2010 (VIS) - After the prayer of Regina Coeli in the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo, the Pope expressed his condolences to the Polish nation for the tragic plane accident of Saturday, in which the President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other high officials of the State and the military, lost their lives.

  Then, addressing the Polish pilgrims present, the Holy Father said that they "perished during a journey to Katyn, the place where thousands of Polish military officers were tortured seventy years ago".

  He said, "I entrust all the victims to the goodness of the Lord of Life. I do this in union with the pilgrims congregated in the Sanctuary of Lagiewniki and all those devoted to the Mercy of God in the whole world".

  Saturday, Benedict XVI sent a telegram to the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, in which he stated "I entrust the victims of this dramatic accident - the parliamentarians, the politicians, the representatives of the army and the families of Katyn, as well as all the other persons - to the goodness of the merciful God. May he welcome them in his glory. To the families of those that perished and to all the Polish people, I wish to offer my most sincere condolences, assuring them of my spiritual closeness. During this difficult moment, I beg the almighty God for a special blessing for the Polish People".
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AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

VATICAN CITY, 12 APR 2010 (VIS) - On Thursday April 8, in the House of the Armed Forces of Sarajevo, the signing of the Agreement between the Holy See and Bosnia Herzegovina took place, concerning religious assistance for Catholic faithful, members of the Armed Forces of this State.

  The Archbishop Alessandro D'Errico, apostolic nuncio to Sarajevo, signed on behalf of the Holy See, and for Bosnia Herzegovina, the Minister of Defence, Selmo Cikotic.

  A notice states that "the Agreement is a new important stage in relationships between the Holy See and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is, in fact, a first and significant application of the Base Agreement between the Holy See and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was signed in Sarajevo on April 19 2006 and defined, among other things, the juridical framework of the presence and the activities of the Catholic Church in the Nation. Especially, article 15 of the same Agreement recognizes and guarantees the Catholic Church's right to religious assistance for the Catholic members of the Armed Forces and establishes that religious activities in the Armed Forces will be regulated by a following Agreement between the Ecclesiastic Authorities and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is what this document will try to achieve, according to article 13, which will occur at the moment of the exchange of ratification instruments.

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