AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JAN 21, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience eight prelates from the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Southern Region I) on their "ad limina" visit:

- Bishop Luiz Eugenio Perez of Japoticabal, accompanied by Coadjutor Bishop Fernando Antonio Bronchini.

- Bishop Moacyr Jose Vitti of Piracicaba.

- Bishop Ireneu Danelon, S.D.B., of Lins.

- Bishop Ercilio Turco of Osasco.

- Bishop Joseph Mahfouz, O.L.M., of Nossa Senhora do Libano em Sao Paulo of the Maronites.

- Bishop Luiz Gonzaga Bergonzini of Guarulhos.
- Bishop Jose Maria Liborio Camino Saracho of Presidente Prudente.

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TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW CODE OF CANON LAW

VATICAN CITY, JAN 21, 2003 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts has organized an academic day on January 24 entitled, "Twenty years of canonical experience 1983-2003," in order to commemorate the twenty year anniversary of John Paul's promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law which Blessed John XXIII considered the disciplinary culmination of the Second Vatican Council.

The day will be celebrated in the New Synod Hall in the Vatican and will be presided by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of State. After Archbishop Julian Herranz, president of the dicastery, greets participants, the deans of the seven faculties of Canon Law in Rome will speak.

In the late morning, the Holy Father will receive participants in audience.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 21, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Fr. Jorge Alberto Ossa Soto, vicar general and rector of St. Pius X Major Seminary in Istmina-Tado, Colombia as bishop of Florencia (area 15,441, population 260,000, Catholics 225,000, priests 47, religious 70), Colombia. The bishop-elect was born in El Carmen de Viboral, Colombia in 1956 and was ordained a priest in 1982.

- Appointed Fr. Joseph Boishu, delegate for the Formation of Lay People and for New Ministries for the archdiocese of Rennes, France as auxiliary bishop of Reims (area 6,931, population 597,522, Catholics 565,022, priests 175, permanent deacons 20, religious 363), France. The bishop-elect was born in 1939 in La Guerche, France and was ordained a priest in 1966. The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the same diocese presented by Bishop Francois Gourgouillon in conformity with Canon 411 and Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

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PROMOTING ECUMENISM MUST BE A CONSTANT CONCERN

VATICAN CITY, JAN 18, 2003 (VIS) - Fifteen members of the administrative council of the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration were welcomed this morning by the Holy Father who expressed his appreciation for the work "of ecclesial support for the Orthodox Churches and the ancient Churches of the East" that the members of this consultative body have been undertaking for years.

He noted that their activities include "giving scholarships to Orthodox candidates presented by their own ecclesial authorities; sending books and literature, especially theological and patristic, to Orthodox seminaries and libraries; promoting special projects in these seminaries and in institutes of formation."

The Pope added that the presence of Orthodox scholarship candidates "expresses an efficacious synergy which helps activate a basic element of the ecumenical commitment: the exchange of gifts among the Churches in their complementarity."

"At the beginning of the new millennium," affirmed the Holy Father in conclusion, "in this period of transition between what has been accomplished and what we are called to accomplish in order to promote the ecumenical path up to the point of reaching full communion, we have an inescapable duty: ... That of favoring capillary reception of the results already reached in the various ecumenical initiatives, not losing the occasion to underline that promoting the ecumenical commitment must be a constant concern in the work of formation."

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PRIESTS MUST BE HOLY AND EDUCATORS OF HOLINESS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 18, 2003 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received superiors and students from the diocesan seminary of Rome, "Almo Collegio Capranica," on the occasion of the feast of its patroness, St. Agnes, on January 21.

The Pope told the students that "the lesson that we can learn from St. Agnes is heroic constancy in the faith 'usque ad effusionem sanguinis'. This young martyr invites us to persevere with fidelity in our mission, even to the point of sacrificing our life if necessary. It calls for an interior disposition that must be fed daily with prayer and a serious ascetic program."

"Priests," he continued, "called to be enlighhtened guides and coherent examples of Christian life for the People of God, cannot fall short of the faith that the Lord and His Church place in them. They must be holy and they must be educators of holiness with their teaching, but even more with their witness. This is the 'martyrdom' to which God calls them, a martyrdom which, even though it does involve violent bloodshed, always requires that bloodless but 'heroic constancy in the faith' which characterizes the existence of the true disciples of Christ."

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