ANGELUS: POPE ASKS FOR END OF VIOLENCE IN COLOMBIA

VATICAN CITY, 17 APR 2011 (VIS) - At the end of the celebration of the solemnity of Palm Sunday and the Lord's Passion, the Holy Father prayed the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. Before the Marian prayer the Pope addressed those present in various languages, exhorting them above all, "to live the celebration of the Lord's Passion and Glorification in order to achieve the fullness of what these feasts mean and hold".

  "I am particularly speaking to you, beloved youth" he continued in Spanish, "that you accompany me at the World Youth Day that will take place in Madrid this coming August, with the theme of "Rooted and Built in Christ: Firm in the Faith".

  "Today I am also thinking of Colombia", he continued, "where the Day of Prayer for victims of violence will be held this coming Good Friday. I am spiritually near to this initiative and earnestly urge Colombians to participate in it, at the same time I ask God for those in this beloved nation who have been appallingly stripped of their lives and their possessions. I renew my urgent call to conversion, repentance, and reconciliation. No more violence in Colombia, that peace there reign!"

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PROGRAM OF THE POPE'S APOSTOLIC TRIP TO CROATIA

VATICAN CITY, 18 APR 2011 (VIS) - Following is the program of Benedict XVI's apostolic trip to Croatia - scheduled for 4 - 5 June - for the National Day of Croatian Families.

  The Pope will leave at 9:30am on Saturday, 4 June, from Rome's Fiumicino Airport and will land at Pleso International Airport in Zagreb at 11:00am. After the welcoming ceremony, a courtesy visit will be made to Ivo Josipovic, the President of the Republic, at the presidential palace, following which the Pope will meet with Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor at the apostolic nunciature at 1:50pm. At 6:15pm, in the National Croatian Theater of Zagreb, he will meet with representatives of civil society, the political, academic, cultural, and business world, the diplomatic corps, and religious figures. At 7:30pm, in Josip Jelacic Square, he will preside over a prayer vigil with the Croatian youth.

  On Sunday, 5 June, at 10:00am, he will celebrate Holy Mass on the National Day of Croatian Families in the Zagreb Hippodrome. At 2:00pm he will have lunch at the new offices of the Secretary of the Croatian Bishops' Council with the Croatian and other invited bishops. At 5:00pm he will presided over vespers with the bishops, priests, religious, and seminarians and will pray at the tomb of Blessed Aloysius Viktor Stepinac at Zagreb's Cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to St. Stephen. When finished there he will meet with Cardinal Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb, at his residence, and at 7:15pm will travel to Pleso Airport where, at 7:45pm he will make the return flight to Rome. The flight is scheduled to land at Rome's Ciampino Airport at 9:15pm.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 18 APR 2011 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father named:

- Fr. Jose Arturo Cepeda of the clergy of the archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan (area 10,106, population 4,556,000, Catholics 1,515,000, priests 641, religious 1,552, permanent deacons 191), USA. The bishop-elect was born in 1969 in San Luis de Potosi, Mexico, was ordained to the priesthood in 1996, and, to date, was Rector of the Assumption Seminary of San Antonio, Texas.

- Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA) as his special envoy to the bicentennial celebration of the birth of St. John Nepomuceno Neumann that will take place in Prachatitz, Czech Republic on 18 June 2011.

  On Saturday, 16 April, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Beniamino Pizziol, auxiliary bishop of Venice, as bishop of Vicenza (area 2,200, population 855,608, Catholics 790,848, priests 732, permanent deacons 38, religious 2,086), Italy.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 15 APR 2011 (VIS) - This afternoon the Holy Father will receive in audience Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 15 APR 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Charles Henry Dufour, bishop of Montego Bay, Jamaica as Archbishop of Kingston in Jamaica (area 3,267, population 1,448,000, Catholics 58,000, priests 63, permanent deacons 29, religious 313), Jamaica. He succeeds Msgr. Donald James Reece, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
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