HOLY FATHER RECEIVES PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA

VATICAN CITY, 12 DEC 2011 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience Serzh Sargsyan, president of the Republic of Armenia. The president, accompanied by Edward Nalbadian, foreign minister, then went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. who was accompanied by Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, under secretary for Relations with States.

  "In the course of the cordial discussions, and having expressed great pleasure at the good relations that exist between the Holy See and the Republic of Armenia, the parties exchanged views on the role that the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church play in society, and the contribution they both make to the common good. Attention also turned to the importance of the country's Christian heritage, and of the commitment to educating the new generations in fundamental values".
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TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF CARDINAL FOLEY

VATICAN CITY, 12 DEC 2011 (VIS) - Given below is the text of a telegram sent by the Holy Father to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. Cap. of Philadelphia, U.S.A., for the death of Cardinal John Patrick Foley, grand master emeritus of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Cardinal Foley yesterday died in Darby, U.S.A., at the age of 76.

  "Having learned with sadness of the death of Cardinal John Patrick Foley, grand master emeritus of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, I offer you my heartfelt condolences. As I recall with gratitude the late cardinal's years of priestly ministry in his beloved archdiocese of Philadelphia, his distinguished service to the Holy See as president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and most recently his labours on behalf of the Christian communities of the Holy Land, I willingly join you in commending his noble soul to God, the Father of all mercies. I also pray that his lifelong commitment to the Church's presence in the media will inspire others to take up this apostolate so essential to the proclamation of the Gospel and the progress of the new evangelisation. To all who mourn Cardinal Foley in the hope of the resurrection, I cordially impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of consolation and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ".
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 12 DEC 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience:

 - Seven prelates of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington.

    - Bishop Patrick James Dunn of Auckland.

    - Bishop Barry Philip Jones of Christchurch.

    - Bishop Colin David Campbell of Dunedin.

    - Bishop Denis George Browne of Hamilton in New Zealand.

    - Bishop Peter James Cullinane of Palmerston North, accompanied by Coadjutor Bishop Charles Edward Drennan.

 - Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

  On Saturday 10 December he received in audience:

 - Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

 - Archbishop Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 12 DEC 2011, VIS - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Fr. Gaetan Proulx O.S.M. pastor of the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Foy in the archdiocese of Quebec, Canada, and Fr. Denis Grondin Jr. of the clergy of Quebec, pastor in the region of Charlevoix, as auxiliaries of the archdiocese of Quebec (area 35,180, population 1,195,261, Catholics 1,040,690, priests 701, permanent deacons 95, religious 3458). Bishop-elect Proulx was born in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1976. For many years he was responsible for forming candidates to religious and priestly life in the Servite Province of Canada and, from 2000 to 2006, was prior provincial for Canada, France and Belgium. Bishop-elect Grondin was born in Rimouski, Canada in 1954 and ordained a priest in 1989. He has been active as vice pastor and administrator in a number of parishes and has worked in pastoral animation in schools and health centres.

 - Appointed Fr. Jose Luis del Palacio Perez-Medel of the clergy of Madrid, Spain, head of the Neo-Catechumenal Way in Peru, as bishop of El Callao (area 147,850, population 1,015,000, Catholics 912,000, priests 102, permanent deacons 8, religious 247), Peru. The bishop-elect was born in Madrid in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1985. Prior to his ordination he worked on the itinerant teams of the Neo-Catechumenal Way in Spain and Peru. He is currently a professor at the "Redemptoris Mater" Faculty of Theology in El Callao. He succeeds Miguel Irizar Campos C.P., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

  Saturday 10 December it was made public that he appointed:

 - As members of the Pontifical Council for Culture: Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, U.S.A.; Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation; Archbishop Giuseppe Betori of Florence, Italy; Bishop Joseph Vianney Fernando of Kandy, Sri Lanka; Fr. Francois Bousquet, professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Sciences of the "Institut Catholique de Paris", France; Jean-Luc Marion, philosopher and professor of metaphysics at the Universities of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) and of Chicago, and Arvo Part, musician and composer from Estonia.

 - As consultors of the Pontifical Council for Culture: Fr. Jose Tolentino de Mendonca, professor of the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Lisbon, Portugal; Fr. Edouard Ade, professor at the Catholic University of West Africa, Benin; Fr. Antonino Spadaro S.J., editor in chief of the magazine "Civilta Cattolica" and professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; Fidel Gonzalez Fernandez M.C.C.J., professor at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Urban University in Rome and at the Faculty of Ecclesiastical History of the Pontifical Gregorian University; Santiago Calatrava, Spanish architect and engineer; Francesc Torralba Rosello, professor of philosophy at the "Ramon Llull" University in Barcelona, Spain; Piero Benvenuti, professor of astrophysics and director of the "G. Colombo" Interdepartmental Space Centre at the University of Padua, Italy; Wolf Joachim Singer, professor of neurology and director of the "Max Planck Institute Fur Hirnforschung-Frankfurt A. M.", Germany; Bruno Coppi, professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT "Plasma Science & Fusion Center" in Cambridge, U.S.A.; Micol Forti, curator of the modern art collection of the Vatican Museums, and; Marguerite A. Peeters, journalist, and director general of the "Brussels-Based Institute for Intercultural Dialogue Dynamics", Belgium.

 - Fr. Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet S.D.B., Salesian inspector for Uruguay and president of the Conference of Religious of Uruguay, as auxiliary of Montevideo (area 540, population 1,394,000, Catholics 883,000, priests 252, permanent deacons 35, religious 721), Uruguay. The bishop-elect was born in Montevideo in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1987. Among other duties, he has worked as vicar for the Salesian novitiate and post novitiate, master of novices and professor of Church history.

 - Msgr. Edward Robinson Wijesinghe of the clergy of the archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka, official of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, as bureau chief of the same pontifical council.
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POPE'S THREE WISHES FOR CHRISTMAS

VATICAN CITY, 9 DEC 2011 (VIS) - Late Wednesday afternoon, 7 December, thanks to a "tablet" connected to the power grid, Benedict XVI lit the largest Christmas tree in the world from the papal apartments. This electronic "tree" is located in the Italian town of Gubbio. Before flipping the switch he addressed a few words – by television – to those attending the ceremony.

  "Before lighting the tree", he said, "I would like to express three wishes. This Christmas tree is formed on the slopes of Mt. Ingino at whose summit is found the basilica of Gubbio's patron saint, St. Ubaldo. When we look at it our eyes are lifted up, raised toward the sky, toward the world of God".

  "My first wish, therefore, is that our gaze, that of our minds and our hearts, not rest only on the horizon of this world, on its material things, but that it in some way, like this tree that tends upward, be directed toward God. God never forgets us but He also asks that we don't forget Him".

  "The Gospel recounts that, on the holy night of Christ's birth, a light enveloped the shepherds, announcing a great joy to them: the birth of Jesus, the one who brings us light, or better, the One who is the true light that illuminates all. The great tree that I will light up shortly overlooks the city of Gubbio and will illuminate the darkness of the night with its light".

  "My second wish is that we recall that we also need a light to illumine the path of our lives and to give us hope, especially in this time in which we feel so greatly the weight of difficulties, of problems, of suffering, and it seems that we are enshrouded in a veil of darkness. But what light can truly illuminate our hearts and give us a firm and sure hope? It is the Child whom we contemplate on Christmas, in a poor and humble manger, because He is the Lord who draws near to each of us and asks that we reeceive Him anew in our lives, asks us to want Him, to trust in Him, to feel His presence, that He is accompanying us, sustaining us, and helping us".

  "But this great tree is formed of many lights. My final wish is that each of us contribute something of that light to the spheres in which we live: our families, our jobs, our neighbourhoods, towns, and cities. That each of us be a light for those who are at our sides; that we leave aside the selfishness that, so often, closes our hearts and leads us to think only of ourselves; that we may pay greater attention to others, that we may love them more. Any small gesture of goodness is like one of the lights of this great tree: together with other lights it illuminates the darkness of the night, even of the darkest night".
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