HOLY FATHER RECEIVES ECUMENICAL DELEGATION FROM FINLAND

VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2011 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received an ecumenical delegation from Finland for the occasion of the Feast of St. Henry, the country's patron saint.

  "Every year", said the Pope, addressing the group in German, "this meeting bears witness to the friendship and co-operation that exist between Lutherans and Catholics and, in general, among all Christians in your country".

  "Although the goal of the ecumenical movement - complete unity in the faith - has not yet been reached", dialogue has produced many points of agreement, Benedict XVI noted. Among these he highlighted the declaration "on the doctrine of justification in the life of the Church", and gave assurances that further study of this theme will contribute, among other things, "to a shared viewpoint on the nature of the episcopal office".

  "At the same time", he went on, "we are all aware that the ecumenical journey has, in some ways, become more difficult and challenging. In this light, your annual pilgrimage to Rome for the Feast of St. Henry is an important event and a stimulus to our efforts. It helps us to look back with joy at the goals we have achieved and forward to the future with the desire for responsible compromise".

  "In view of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity", the Pope concluded, "let us ask the Spirit of Truth to impel us to ever greater love and fraternity".
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BEARING WITNESS TO FAITH WITH COHERENT ACTIONS

VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2011 (VIS) - Benedict XVI today received members of the General Inspectorate for Public Security in the Vatican in a traditional meeting that takes place every year in January for the exchange of New Year greetings.

  The Pope expressed his appreciation for "the commitment and professionalism with which the officers of the Italian State Police, almost like 'guardian angels', watch over the Vatican day and night, guaranteeing the necessary security and placing themselves at the service of pilgrims".

  "May your presence at the heart of Christianity, where throngs of faithful constantly arrive to meet Peter's Successor and to visit the tombs of the Apostles, bring each of you to stimulate the spiritual dimension of your own life and the commitment to deepen your own Christian faith, bearing joyful witness to that faith with a coherent conduct".
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CARDINALS TAKE POSSESSION OF DIACONATE, TITULAR CHURCHES

VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2011 (VIS) - The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff today announced that:

 - At 6.30 p.m. on Saturday 22 January Cardinal Paolo Romeo, archbishop of Palermo, Italy, will take possession of the title of St. Mary Hodegetria of the Sicilians, Via del Tritone 82, Rome.

 - At 6 p.m. on Saturday 22 January Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, will take possession of the title of St. Mary "Regina Pacis" at Ostia Mare, Piazza Regina Pacis 13, Rome.

 - At 11 a.m. on Sunday 23 January Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, will take possession of the diaconate of St. George in Velabro, Via del Velabro 19, Rome.

 - At 11.30 a.m. on Sunday 23 January Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", will take possession of the diaconate of St. John Bosco in Via Tuscolana, Viale dei Salesiani 9, Rome.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

 - Cardinal Marc Ouellet P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

 - Cardinal Agustin Garcia-Gasco Vicente, archbishop emeritus of Valencia, Spain.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Erected the new diocese of Bo (area 16,208, population 1.092.657, Catholics 50,000, priests 34, religious 49) Sierra Leone, by dividing the current archdiocese of Freetown and Bo, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Freetown. He appointed Fr. Charles Allieu Matthew Campbell of the clergy of the archdiocese of Freetown and Bo, spiritual director of St. Paul's Major Seminary in Freetown, as first bishop of the new diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Njala, Sierra Leone in 1961 and ordained a priest in 1986.

 - Appointed Bishop Angelo Spinillo of Teggiano-Policastro, Italy, as bishop of Aversa (area 361, population 566,680, Catholics 549,070, priests 210, permanent deacons 24, religious 458), Italy. He succeeds Archbishop-Bishop Mario Milano, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

 - Appointed Fr. Benjamin Phiri of the clergy of the diocese of Chipata, Zambia, currently rector of the national major theological seminary of St. Dominic in Lusaka, as auxiliary of Chipata (area 69,106, population 1,487,000, Catholics 379,834, priests 60, religious 175). The bishop-elect was born in Chongololo, Zambia in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1986.

 - Appointed Werner Arber, professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, as president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

 - Appointed Rev. Keith Newton as first ordinary of the new Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the territory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Rev. Newton was born in Liverpool, England in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1976 for the Anglican diocese of Chelmsford. In March 2002 he was ordained as suffragan bishop of Richborough.
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