AUDIENCES

Vatican City,  (VIS) - This afternoon the Holy Father is scheduled to receive in audience Cardinal Marc Ouellet P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

On Sunday 15 July he received in audience Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas, Canada, presented by Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie O.M.I., in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law, appointing Fr. William Stang O.M.I., vicar general, as apostolic administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the same archdiocese.

- Erected the new diocese of Udupi (area 3,500, population 1,445,240, Catholics 106,149, priests 86, religious 225) India, with territory taken from the diocese of Mangalore, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Bangalore. He appointed Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo of Shimoga, India, as first bishop of the new diocese.

On Saturday 14 July it was made public that the Holy Father appointed Fr. Gregory Bittman, judicial vicar and chancellor of the archdiocese of Edmonton, Canada, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 81,151, population 1,589,080, Catholics 378,545, priests 175, permanent deacons 20, religious 362). The bishop-elect was born in Hamilton, Canada in 1961 and ordained a priest in 1996. He has worked in pastoral care in a number of parishes.

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.