INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON WORLD YOUTH DAYS

Vatican City, 22 March 2012 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for the Laity is promoting a meeting of youth pastoral care workers to reflect on World Youth Days (WYD) and prepare for next year's WYD in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The meeting, due to be held in Rocca di Papa near Rome from 29 March to 1 April, will bring together delegates from ninety-eight countries, as well as the organising committees of WYD Madrid 2011 and WYD Rio 2013.

A communique released this morning by the Pontifical Council for the Laity explains that this will be "an important moment of reflection for the pastoral care workers" who number "more than 300, representing 45 communities, associations and Catholic youth movements".

Work will begin on 29 March with a welcome address from Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The rest of the day will be dedicated to a study of organisational and pastoral aspects of WYD Madrid 2011, and the fruits it has yielded throughout the world. Participants will include Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, and Yago de la Cierva and Fr. Gregorio Rolgan, respectively executive director and secretary general of WYD Madrid 2011.

On Friday 30 March attention will turn to Rio de Janeiro. The challenges and expectations of next year's WYD will be presented by Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta O. Cist. of Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro; Msgr. Eduardo Pinheiro da Silva, president of the Brazilian Episcopal Commission for Youth; Fr. Carlos Savio, head of the youth office of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, and the WYD Rio 2013 organising committee.

Saturday 31 March will be dedicated to reflection on the "formation of young people; a mission priority for the Church", with contributions from Bishop Josef Clemens, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and Fr. Fabio Attard, counsellor general of the Salesians for youth pastoral care. On Palm Sunday 1 April, which also marks twenty-seventh diocesan World Youth Day, the delegates will participate in Mass presided by Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square.

CARDINAL JEAN-LOUIS TAURAN TO VISIT NIGERIA

Vatican City, 22 March 2012 (VIS) - Tomorrow, Friday 23 March, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, will travel to Nigeria where he is due to visit a number of dioceses and to close a seminar of inter-religious dialogue with followers of Traditional African Religions, according to a communique released today.

MEETING BETWEEN PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR CULTURE AND AFRICAN AMBASSADORS TO THE HOLY SEE

Vatican City, 22 March 2012 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for Culture is organising a meeting of ambassadors to the Holy See from Africa. The event, due to be held in Rome on 26 March, aims to promote cooperation between the council and countries that are geographically distant from the Vatican. This is the second initiative of its kind, a similar meeting was held last year with ambassadors to the Holy See from Asia.

The programme of the event is divided into several parts and will be held at more than one venue. The first part of the day will be devoted to a detailed presentation of the Pontifical Council for Culture by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi and Bishop Barthelemy Adoukonou, respectively president and secretary of that dicastery. The ambassadors will also have a chance to intervene and make proposals for collaboration. The session will be moderated by Fr. Theodore Mascarenhas S.F.X., head of the department for cultures in Africa.

Participants will then move on to the Temple of Hadrian where they will be welcomed by Giancarlo Cremonesi, president of Rome's Chamber of Commerce who will describe the activities of the organisation he heads. There will also be a detailed cultural introduction to the historical and present day aspects of the temple. The day will end with a visit to Rome's "Parco della Musica" Auditorium.

According to an English-language note released today, "the Pontifical Council for Culture has been receiving very active collaboration from different embassies. The event intends to strengthen further the ties between the embassies and the dicastery and to evolve new ways for cultural cooperation. Twenty-three Embassies have confirmed their participation".

STATISTICS FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MEXICO AND CUBA

Vatican City, 21 March 2012 (VIS) - Benedict XVI is due to make an apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba from 23 to 29 March, to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the independence of Mexico, and the four hundredth of the discovery of the image of "Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre" in Cuba. For the occasion statistics have been published concerning the Catholic Church in those two countries. The information, updated to 31 December 2010, comes from the Central Statistical Office of the Church.

Mexico has a surface area of 1,958,201 square kilometres and a population of 108,426,000, of whom 99,635,000 (91.89 percent) are Catholic. There are 93 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 6,744 parishes and 7,169 pastoral centres of other kinds. Currently, there are 163 bishops, 16,234 priests, 30,023 religious, 505 members of secular institutes, 25,846 lay missionaries and 295,462 catechists. Minor seminarians number 4,524 and major seminarians 6,495.

A total of 1,856,735 students attend 8,991 centres of Catholic education of all levels and 1,822 special education centres. Other institutions belonging to the Church or run by priests or religious in Mexico include 257 hospitals, 1,602 clinics, 8 leper colonies, 372 homes for the elderly or disabled, 329 orphanages and nurseries, 2,134 family counselling centres and other pro-life centres, and 340 institutions of other kinds.

Cuba has a surface area of 110,861 square kilometres and a population of 11,242,000, of whom 6,766,000 (60.19 percent) are Catholic. There are 11 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 304 parishes and 2,210 pastoral centres of other kinds. Currently, there are 17 bishops, 361 priests, 656 religious, 24 members of secular institutes, 2,122 lay missionaries and 4,133 catechists. Minor seminarians number 13 and major seminarians 78.

A total of 1,113 students attend 12 centres of Catholic education of all levels and 10 special education centres. Other institutions belonging to the Church or run by priests or religious in Cuba include 2 clinics, 1 leper colony, 8 homes for the elderly or disabled, 3 orphanages and nurseries, and 3 institutions of other kinds.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 21 March 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- As members of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care: Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier O.F.M., archbishop of Durban, South Africa, and Bishop Walter Mixa, emeritus of Augsburg, Germany.

- As consultors of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care: Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye of Muyinga, Burundi; Orochi Samuel Orach, director of the National Office for Health Pastoral Care in Uganda; Stefano Ojetti, vice president of the Italian Association of Catholic Doctors, and Salvatore Pagliuca, vice president of UNITALSI (Italian National Union for Transport of the Sick to Lourdes and International Shrines).

- Fr. Jose Luiz Gomes de Vasconcelos of the clergy of the diocese of Garanhuns, Brazil, rector of the interdiocesan seminary of Caruaru, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Fortaleza (area 14,813, population 3,622,000, Catholics 2,562,000, priests 332, permanent deacons 19, religious 1,144), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Garanhuns in 1963 and ordained a priest in 1989. He studied in Rome before returning to Brazil where he has worked in pastoral care and education.

- Fr. Giovanni Crippa I.M.C., teacher and pastor in the archdiocese of Feira de Santana, Brazil, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Sao Salvador da Bahia (area 3,859, population 3,210,878, Catholics 2,284,477, priests 283, permanent deacons 93, religious 1,070), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Besana Brianzana, Italy in 1958 and ordained a priest in 1985. He was active in missionary formation in Turin and Rome before moving to Brazil in 2000 where he has worked as a pastor and seminary professor.

- Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino of Floresta, Brazil, as bishop prelate of Sao Felix (area 150,000, population 162,000, Catholics 139,000, priests 20, permanent deacons 3, religious 43), Brazil.