OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 9, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Bishop Santiago Garcia Aracil of Jaen, Spain, as metropolitan archbishop of Merida-Badajoz (area 17,405, population 578,638, Catholics 575,661, priests 327, religious 937), Spain. The archbishop-elect was born in Valencia, Spain in 1940 and was ordained a priest in 1963. He succeeds Archbishop Antonio Montero Moreno whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Msgr. Gustavo Rodolfo Mendoza Hernandez, chancellor of the Curia and pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in the archdiocese of Guatemala City, Guatemala and Fr. Gonzalo De Villa y Vasquez, S.J., consultant and rector of Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala City, as auxiliary bishops of the same archdiocese (area 2,591, population 3,214,280, Catholics 2,249,056, priests 515, permanent deacons 3, religious 2,416). Bishop-elect Mendoza was born in 1934 in Guatemala City and was ordained a priest in 1958. Bishop-elect De Villa was born in 1954 in Madrid, Spain and was ordained a priest in 1983.
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HOLY SEE-SLOVAKIA ACCORD ON EDUCATION IS RATIFIED

VATICAN CITY, JUL 9, 2004 (VIS) - This morning in the apostolic nunciature in Bratislava, Slovakia, Archbishop Henry Jozef Nowacki, apostolic nuncio in the Slovak Republic and Martin Fronc, minister of education, exchanged instruments of ratification for the Accord between the Holy See and Slovakia on education and Catholic instruction, signed in Bratislava on May 13.

  Among the participants in the ceremony were Archbishop Jan Sokol of Bratislava-Trnava and Bishop Frantisek Tondra of Spis, president of the Slovakian Bishops' Conference, representing the Holy See, and, for Slovakia, Daniela Remenova, official of the section of private and Catholic schools in the Ministry of Education and Marek Smid of the Department of International Law in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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PAPAL LETTER TO MEETING ON POVERTY AND GLOBALIZATION

VATICAN CITY, JUL 9, 2004 (VIS) - Made public today was the Holy Father's Letter to Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, on the occasion of the international seminar the council has sponsored, being held today in the Vatican, on "Poverty and Globalization: Financing for Development, including the Millennium Development Goals."  The Letter is dated July 5.

  Assuring the participants of his "prayers and encouragement for this most important work," the Pope noted that "the conditions of extreme poverty afflicting many millions of people are a cause of grave concern to the international community. The Church, committed to a 'preferential option for the poor', naturally shares in that concern and strongly supports the Millennium goal of halving the number of people living in poverty by the year 2015. Through the many Catholic aid and development agencies she makes her own contribution to relief efforts, thereby continuing the work of Christ Himself, who came to bring good news to the poor, to feed the hungry, to serve and not to be served."

  "Much work has already been done," he wrote, "to reduce the burden of debt afflicting poor countries, but more is needed if developing nations are to escape from the crippling effects of under-investment and if developed countries are to fulfil their duty of solidarity with their less fortunate brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.  In the short to medium term, a commitment to increase foreign aid seems the only way forward, and the Church therefore welcomes the search for innovative solutions, such as the International Finance Facility."

  The Pope added that "at the same time, financial support from wealthy nations places an obligation on the receiver to demonstrate transparency and accountability in the use made of such assistance. I am confident that the governments of rich and poor countries alike will take seriously their responsibilities towards each other and towards their people."
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Pierre Warin, president of the seminary of the diocese of Namur, Belgium, and episcopal vicar, as auxiliary of the same diocese (area 8,067, population 698,000, Catholics 550,000, priests 823, permanent deacons 57, religious 1373), Belgium. The bishop-elect was born in Rocourt, Belgium in 1948 and was ordained a priest in 1972.
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2003 MARKS THIRD CONSECUTIVE DEFICIT FOR HOLY SEE

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2004 (VIS) - Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, announced this morning in a press conference on the 2003 Consolidated Financial Statement that Holy See closed the year with a deficit of 9.56 million euro, lower than the 2002 deficit of 13.5 million euro. It is the third consecutive year that the Holy See has had a deficit following the period of surpluses up to the year 2000.

  Cardinal Sebastiani said that, starting with the end of the year 2000, the world economy entered into a phase of crisis that reflected the effects of the turbulence provoked by different kinds of events such as the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, the last series of terrorist attacks, the war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  "Only since the second half of 2003," he said, "was a certain recovery of stock activity evident, but in Europe investments are still lacking and above all demand is weak."

  In terms of the institutional activity of the Holy See (Secretariat of State, Congregations, Councils, Tribunals, the Synod of Bishops and various other offices), the president indicated that this sector closed the year with a deficit of 19.7 million euro, slightly lower than 2002.  "The volume of donations that came to the Holy See in 2003," he said, "showed in its various components a decrease, due also to the increased value of the euro in relation to the U.S. dollar and to other currencies, falling from roughly 85.4 million to 79.6 million."

  The president of the prefecture said that the sector of financial activities (7 consolidated administrations, the most important of which is the Extraordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, APSA) had a net deficit of 11.6 million euro. The real estate sector, he continued, closed with a surplus of 22.4 million euro, compared to 19.1 million in 2002.  The activity of the media institutions (Vatican Radio, the Vatican Printing Office, L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, the Vatican Publishing House and Vatican Television), closed with a deficit of 1.2 million euros, compared to a 1.7 million deficit in 2002.
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