PAN AFRICAN CONGRESS FOR CATHOLIC LAITY

Vatican City,  (VIS) - "Being witnesses of Jesus Christ in Africa today. 'Salt of the earth ... light of the World'" is the theme of the forthcoming Pan African Congress for Catholic Laity, which has been organised by the Pontifical Council for the Laity and is due to take place in Yaounde, Cameroon, from 4 to 9 September. The initiative is part of the council's tradition of organising continental and/or regional congresses for Catholic lay people in various parts of the world.

The event will be held at the Catholic University of Central Africa, and the decision to hold the congress in Africa is related to the Holy Father's apostolic trip to Cameroon and Angola in 2009 and, more recently, his visit to Benin in November 2011 to sign the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Africae Munus".

According to a communique released today: "the meeting demonstrates the commitment of the Pontifical Council for the Laity to journey together with the particular Churches. It also helps the laity to live their faith in communion with their pastors and to rediscover their co-responsibility for the Church’s mission in its many fields of apostolate".

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Choluteca, Honduras, presented by Bishop Guido Plante P.M.E., upon having reached the age limit.

IN MEMORIAM

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

- Cardinal Rodolfo Ignacio Quezada Toruno, archbishop emeritus of Guatemala, Guatemala, on 4 June at the age of 80.

- Cardinal Eugenio de Araujo Sales, archbishop emeritus of Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 9 July at the age of 91.

- Bishop Luiz Gonzaga Bergonzini, emeritus of Guarulhos, Brazil, on 13 June at the age of 76.

- Archbishop Raymond Eid, emeritus of Damascus of the Maronites, Syria, on 11 June at the age of 81.

- Bishop Ireneo Garcia Alonso, emeritus of Albacete, Spain, on 4 June at the age of 89.

- Bishop Jouzas Tunaitis, former auxiliary of Vilnius, Lithuania, on 1 June at the age of 83.

- Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto, emeritus of Coimbra, Portugal, on 15 June at the age of 77.

- Bishop Angelo Cuniberti I.M.C., former apostolic vicar of Florencia, Colombia, on 26 June at the age of 91.

- Bishop Sergio Goretti emeritus of Assisi - Nocera Umbra - Gualdo Tadino, Italy, on 22 June at the age of 83.

- Bishop Anthony Ekezia Ilonu, emeritus of Okigwe, Nigeria, on 15 June at the age of 74.

- Archbishop Joviano de Lima Junior S.S.S. of Riberao Preto, Brazil, on 21 June at the age
of 70.

- Archbishop Alcides Mendoza Castro, emeritus of Cuzco, Peru, on 20 June at the age of 84.

- Bishop Mogale Paul Nkhumishe, emeritus of Polokwane, South Africa, on 29 June at the age of 74.

- Archbishop Aloysio Jose Leal Penna S.J., emeritus of Botucatu, Brazil, on 19 June at the age of 79.

- Bishop Gilbert Blaize Rego, emeritus of Simla and Chandigarh, India, on 21 June at the age of 90.

- Bishop Rudolf Schmid, former auxiliary of Augsburg, Germany, on 24 June at the age of 97.

- Archbishop Albert Joseph Tsiahoana, emeritus of Antsiranana, Madagascar, on 15 June at the age of 84.

PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC GUEST OF THE POPE

Vatican City, 12 2012 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father welcomed Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Republic of Italy, and his wife, Clio Maria Bittoni to the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. They met briefly in the Apostolic Palace's Garden of the Moor, later conversing along the parapets of the gardens.

At 6:00pm the president and the Holy Father attended a concert of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, directed by Maestro Daniel Barenboim, whom they greeted after the performance. Afterwards the president of the Republic and his wife dined with the Pope in his private apartments.

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF MUSIC, HOPE FOR PEACE

Vatican City, 12 July 2012 (VIS) - "It pleases me to welcome an orchestra such as this one, which was born of the conviction, or better yet, of the experience that music unites persons, over and above any division". With these words the Pope thanked Director Daniel Barenboim and the musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for the concert given in the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo to celebrate the feast of St. Benedict, patron of Europe.

"Music", the pontiff continued, "is the harmony of differences ... from the multiplicity of tones of the various instruments a symphony can arise. However, this doesn't happen magically or automatically. It comes only from ... a patient and laborious commitment, which requires time and sacrifices in the effort to listen to one another, avoiding excessive egoism and privileging the best success of the whole".

"In these moments I am thinking of the great symphony of peace between the peoples that is never complete. My generation, like that of Director Barenboim's parents', lived the tragedy of the Second World war and the Shoah. It is highly meaningful that the maestro desired to bring a to life a project like the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: a group in which musicians from Israel, Palestine, and other Arabic nations play; Jewish, Muslim, and Christian persons. The numerous acknowledgements that have been conferred on you and this orchestra demonstrate your professional excellence as well as your ethical and spiritual commitment".

Continuing, the Pope emphasized that the symphonies that were performed, Beethoven's Fifth and Sixth, express two aspects of life: "drama and peace; humanity's struggle against adversity and its enlightening immersion in a bucolic environment... The message I would like to draw from it for today is this: to achieve peace we must dedicate ourselves to dialogue with a personal and communal conversion, patiently seeking possible areas of understanding".

"I wish and pray that each of you", he concluded, "continue sowing the hope for peace in the world through the universal language of music".