AUDIENCES

Vatican City, 31 January 2014 (VIS) – This morning, the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, Spain, with Dr. Javier Maria Prades Lopez, rector of the San Damaso Ecclesiastical University in Madrid,

- Archbishop Bruno Musaro, titular of Abari and apostolic nuncio to Cuba,

- Archbishop Vincent Gerard Nichols of Westminster, England,

- Fr. Ferdinando Neri of the Nomadelfia Community, and

- Dr. Franco Miano, national president of Italian Catholic Action.

This afternoon he is scheduled to meet with Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 31 January 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father:

- appointed Msgr. Stefano Manetti, of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy, as bishop of the Diocese of Montepulciano-Chiusi-Pienza (area 1,068, population 73,177, Catholics 69,508, priests 61, permanent deacons 3, religious 19), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Florence, Italy in 1959 and was ordained a priest in 1984. Since ordination he has served in various pastoral and diocesan roles, most recently as coordinator of the Presbyteral Council. He has been a member of the College of Consultors since 2009.

- appointed Fr. Antonio Mura, of the clergy of the Diocese of Alghero-Bosa, Italy, as bishop of the Diocese of Lanusei (area 2,349, population 68,713, Catholics 67,954, priests 51, permanent deacons 8, religious 23), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Bortigali, Italy in 1952 and was ordained a priest in 1979. Since ordination he has served in various pastoral and diocesan roles, most recently as director of the diocesan weekly and regional director of the Cultural Project for the Italian Bishops' Conference. He succeeds Bishop Antioco Piseddu, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- appointed Archbishop Franco Coppola, previously apostolic nuncio to Burundi, as apostolic nuncio to Central African Republic.

THE POPE PRAISES THE WORK OF THE NOTRE-DAME UNIVERSITY

Vatican City, 30 January 2014 (VIS) - The American Catholic University Notre-Dame du Lac, known as Notre Dame, located in South Bend, Indiana, U.S.A., and funded by Fr. Edward Sorin in 1842, of the Congregation of Santa Cruz. For this reason, this morning the Pope received the Managing Board of the institution, which from its founding, “has made an outstanding contribution to the Church in your country through its commitment to the religious education of the young and to serious scholarship inspired by confidence in the harmony of faith and reason in the pursuit of truth and virtue.

“The vision which guided Father Edward Sorin and the first religious of the Congregation of Holy Cross in establishing the University of Notre Dame du Lac remains, in the changed circumstances of the twenty-first century, central to the University’s distinctive identity and its service to the Church and American society. In my recent Apostolic Exhortation on the Joy of the Gospel, I stressed the missionary dimension of Christian discipleship, which needs to be evident in the lives of individuals and in the workings of each of the Church’s institutions. This commitment to 'missionary discipleship' ought to be reflected in a special way in Catholic universities, which by their very nature are committed to demonstrating the harmony of faith and reason and the relevance of the Christian message for a full and authentically human life”.

For this reason, “essential in this regard is the uncompromising witness of Catholic universities to the Church’s moral teaching, and the defence of her freedom, precisely in and through her institutions, to uphold that teaching as authoritatively proclaimed by the magisterium of her pastors. It is my hope that the University of Notre Dame will continue to offer unambiguous testimony to this aspect of its foundational Catholic identity, especially in the face of efforts, from whatever quarter, to dilute that indispensable witness”.

AUDIENCES

Vatican City, 30 January 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father received in audience the following prelates, on their “ad limina” visit:

- Archbishop Franz Lackner of Salzburg, with Auxiliary Bishop Andreas Laun, O.S.F.S.

- Bishop Benno Elbs of Feldkirch.

- Bishop Alois Schwarz of Gurk.

- Bishop Manfred Scheuer of Innsbruck.

- Dom Anselm van der Linde, O. Cist., abbot of Wettingen-Mehrerau.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 30 January 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father:

- accepted the resignation presented by Bishop Michele Russo, M.C.C.I. from the pastoral government of the diocese of Doba, Chad, in conformity with canon 401 paragraph 2 of the CIC, and has named Bishop Miguel Angel Sebastian Martinez, M.C.C.I., as apostolic administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” of that same diocese.

- accepted the request presented by Cardinal Attilio Nicora to step down as president of the Financial Intelligence Authority of the Holy See and Vatican City State (AIF), and has named Bishop Giorgio Corbellini as interim president of that office. Bishop Corbellini will maintain his positions at the Labour Office of the Apostolic See and the Disciplinary Commission of the Roman Curia.