OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

29 November 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr Radoslaw Zmitrowicz O.M.I., superior of the Delegation of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Ukraine, as auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi (area 47,100, population 2,982,200, Catholics 250,000, priests 158, religious 306), Ukraine. The bishop-elect was born in Gdansk, Poland in 1962 and ordained a priest in 1989. He carried out a pastoral mission in Turkmenistan from 1997 to 2000, and has fulfilled a number of pastoral roles in Ukraine.

SPEAKING ABOUT GOD IN OUR TIMES

Vatican City,  (VIS) - "How do we speak to God in our times? How can we communicate the Gospel to open the way to its salvific truth?" The Holy Father offered an answer to these questions in his catechesis during today's general audience, held in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.

"In Jesus of Nazareth", the Pope said, "we encounter the face of God, descended from Heaven to immerse Himself in the world of mankind and to teach 'the art of living', the road to happiness; to free us from sin and to make us true children of God".

He continued, "speaking about God means, first and foremost, being clear about what we must bring to the men and women of our time. God has spoken to us, … not an abstract or hypothetical God, but a real God, a God Who exists, Who entered history and remains present in history: the God of Jesus Christ ... as a response to the fundamental question of why and how to live. Therefore, speaking about God requires a continual growth in faith, familiarity with Jesus and His Gospel, a profound knowledge of God and strong passion for His plan for salvation, without giving in to the temptations of success. … We must not fear the humility of taking small steps, trusting in the leaven that makes the dough rise slowly and mysteriously. In speaking about God, in the work of evangelisation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must return to the simplicity and essential nature of proclamation: the concrete Good News of God Who cares about us, the love of God which Jesus Christ brought close to us, even unto the Cross, and which in the Resurrection opens us to life without end, to eternal life".

The Pope explained that for St. Paul, communicating the faith did not mean "showing himself, but rather saying openly and publicly what he had seen and heard in his encounter with Christ, and how much his life had been transformed by that encounter. … The Apostle was not satisfied with merely proclaiming the words, but committed his entire existence to the great work of faith. … To speak about God, we must make space for Him, confident that He acts upon our weakness. We must make space for Him without fear, with simplicity and joy, in the profound conviction that the more we place Him - and not ourselves - at the centre of our lives, the more fruitful our communication will be. ... This also holds true for Christian communities. They are called to communicate the transforming action of God's grace, overcoming individualism, closure, selfishness and indifference, bringing the love of God to daily relationships. We must must act to ensure ... we always announce Christ, not ourselves".

"At this point", the Holy Father continued, we must ask ourselves "how Jesus Christ Himself communicated. Jesus … spoke about His Father (Whom He called 'Abba') and about the Kingdom of God, looking with compassion on the discomforts and difficulties of human existence. … From the Gospel we see how Jesus was interested in every human situation He encountered, He immersed Himself in the lives of the men and women of His time, with complete trust in the help of the Father. … In Him, proclamation and life were entwined: Jesus acted and taught, always taking as a starting point His intimate relationship with God the Father. This approach gives fundamental indications to Christians: living in faith and charity is a way of speaking about God in our times, because it demonstrates the credibility of what we say in words through a life lived in Christ. We must take care to grasp the signs of our times, and thereby to identify the potential, the desires and the obstacles we encounter in contemporary culture, in particular the desire for authenticity, the yearning for transcendence, the sensibility for protecting creation. And we must communicate without fear the answer offered by faith in God".

"Speaking about God, therefore, means enabling others to understand through words and acts that God is not a competitor in our existence but rather its true guarantor, the guarantor of the greatness of the human person. Thus we return to the beginning: speaking about God means communicating, with power and simplicity, through words and the life we lead, that which is essential: the God of Jesus Christ, the God Who showed us a love so great that He took on human flesh, died and rose again for us; the God Who asks us to follow Him and to allow ourselves to be transformed by His immense love in order to renew our lives and our relationships; the God Who gave us the Church, to allow us to journey together and, through the Word and the Sacraments, to renew the entire City of Man so that it might become the City of God", concluded the Pope.

APPEAL FOR WORLD AIDS DAY 2012

Vatican City,  (VIS) - "World AIDS Day, a United Nations initiative intended to draw attention to a disease that has caused millions of deaths and tragic human suffering, will fall on 1 December", said the Pope following his catechesis at this morning's general audience. "HIV/AIDS particularly affects the poorest regions of the world, where there is very limited access to effective medicines. My thoughts turn in particular to the large number of children who contract the virus from their mothers each year, despite the treatments which exist to prevent its transmission. I encourage the many initiatives that, within the scope of the ecclesial mission, have been taken in order to eradicate this scourge".

CARDINAL TAURAN AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE KAICIID

Vatican City,  (VIS) - Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, gave an address at the inaugural ceremony of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Vienna, Austria, yesterday. The centre is an independent organisation, recognised by the United Nations and founded by Saudi Arabia, Austria and Spain, to which the Holy See adheres in the role of Founding Observer.

"It is my privilege to bring to this assembly the greetings of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, as well as his prayerful wishes for the success of the activity of this Dialogue Centre", said Cardinal Tauran.

"We are being watched", he continued. "Everyone is expecting from the initiative of His Majesty King Abdullah, supported by the governments of Austria and Spain, with the assistance of the Holy See as founding observer, honesty, vision and credibility.

"This Centre presents another opportunity for open dialogue on many issues, including those related to fundamental human rights, in particular religious freedom in all its aspects, for everybody, for every community, everywhere. In this regard, you will understand that the Holy See is particularly attentive to the fate of Christian communities in countries where such a freedom is not adequately guaranteed. Information, new initiatives, aspirations, and perhaps also failures will be brought to our attention. It then will be the task of the centre - and when possible with the cooperation of other organisations - to verify their authenticity and to act consequently, in order that our contemporaries not be deprived of the light and the resources that religion offers for the happiness of every human being.

"Believers have to work for and to support all that favours the human person in his material, moral and religious aspirations. So three attitudes are required: respect of the other in his/her specificity; mutual objective knowledge of the religious tradition of each other, particularly through education; and collaboration in order that our pilgrimage towards the Truth be realised in freedom and serenity.

"Concluding and quoting Pope Benedict XVI, I would like to assure you of the cooperation of the Catholic Church: 'By her presence, her prayer and her various works of mercy, especially in education and health care, she wishes to give her best to everyone. She wants to be close to those who are in need, near to those who search for God'.

"It is in this spirit of brotherhood and friendship that we have to work!", the cardinal concluded.

IN MEMORIAM

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The following prelates died recently:

- Bishop Aloysius Balina of Shinyanga, Tanzania, on 6 November at the age of 67.

- Bishop Joseph Oliver Bowers S.V.D., emeritus of Saint John's-Basseterre, Antigua, on 6 November at the age of 102.

- Bishop Alfons Demming, auxiliary of Munster, Germany, on 31 October at the age of 84.

- Bishop Michel Hrynchyshyn C.SS.R., apostolic exarch for Ukrainian faithful of Byzantine rite resident in France, on 12 November at the age of 83.

- Bishop Luiz Eugenio Perez, emeritus of Jaboticabal, Brazil, on 14 November at the age of 84.

- Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz, apostolic nuncio, on 31 October at the age of 75.

- Bishop Patrick Francis Sheehan O.S.A., emeritus of Kano, Nigeria, on 8 November at the age of 80.

- Bishop Patrick Ronald Cooney, emeritus of Gaylord, U.S.A., on 15 October at the age of 78.

- Bishop Rene-Marie Ehouzou C.I.M., of Porto Novo, Benin, on 17 October at the age of 68.

- Bishop Eduardo Herrera Riera, emeritus of Carora, Venezuela, on 27 October at the age of 85.

- Archbishop Henry Ernest Karlen C.M.M., emeritus of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on 28 October at the age of 90.

- Bishop Felix Eugenio Mkhori, emeritus of Lilongwe, Malawi, on 27 October at the age of 81.

- Archbishop George Riashi, emeritus of Tripoli of Lebanon of the Greek-Melkites, Lebanon, on 28 October at the age of 78.

- Bishop Odorico Leovigildo O.F.M., apostolic vicar of Requena, Peru, on 14 October at the age of 100.

- Bishop Jose Agostinhi Sartori O.F.M., emeritus of Palmas-Francisco Beltrao, Brazil, on 6 June at the age of 83.

- Bishop Jean-Pierre Urkia M.E.P., apostolic vicar of Pakse, Laos, on 21 December 2011, at the age of 92.

- Bishop Joseph B. Willigers M.H.M., emeritus of Jinja, Uganda, on 30 September at the age of 81.