MEETING OF ORDINARY COUNCIL OF SYNOD OF BISHOPS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2003 (VIS) - The 10th Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops met on July 1-2 for the sixth time in the secretariat's main office, according to a communique made public today.

In addition to Cardinal Jan P. Schotte, C.I.C.M., six cardinals, four archbishops and four members of the Secretariat of the Synod participated in the meeting.
After the presentation of a report on the General Secretariat's activity since the council's last meeting, preparation for the 11th ordinary general assembly was discussed. Later the council's activities for different assemblies were discussed as well as the diffusion of the post-synodal exhortations on different continents.

This council will meet again in October of 2003.

SE;ORDINARY COUNCIL;...;SCHOTTE;VIS;20030708;Word: 130;

HOLY SEE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR 2002

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2003 - Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, will present the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Holy See for the year 2002 at a press conference on July 10 at 11:30 a.m. Bishop Franco Croci and Ivan Ruggiero, respectively secretary and bookkeeper of the same prefecture, will also participate in the press conference.

OP;FINANCIAL STATEMENTS;...;SEBASTIANI;VIS;20030708;Word: 70;

THE CHURCH AND GYPSIES: FOR A SPIRITUALITY OF COMMUNION

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2003 (VIS) - The Fifth World Congress of the Pastoral Ministry for Gypsies, promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples and by the Episcopal Conference of Hungary, was held June 30 to July 7 in Peter Pazmany Catholic University in Budapest on the theme "The Church and Gypsies: For a Spirituality of Communion." There were 230 participants from 26 countries.

Excerpts from the forthcoming Final Document were presented in a communique published by the pontifical council at the end of the assembly. In particular, the communique highlighted Part Three of the document, an appeal for the human rights and dignity of Gypsies.

The appeal asks that human rights and basic freedoms be accorded equally to Gypsies as they are to other peoples, and that these rights be subsequently - and equally - safeguarded. "Every Gypsy must be assured of a secure personal statute, ... all cases of statelessness must be eliminated and Gypsies must not receive disparaging documents, but rather ones identical to those of other citizens."

Congressional participants also ask for an improvement in living and housing conditions for Gypsies, that they be granted a right to a home without discrimination, and that their "caravans or mobile homes be assimilated with fixed domiciles, avoiding serious discrimination of treatment, in the personal and social statute, regarding nomads."

They appeal for "the abolition of every obstacle to free circulation for Gypsies, suppressing in particular the special circulation documents which constitute true 'internal passports'." Another matter taken into discussion is the accessibility of pre-school education for Gypsy youngsters, and "the need to take into account the human and cultural resources potentially represented by four million school age Gypsies youth."

CON-SM;GYPSIES;...;...;VIS;20030708;Word: 280;

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka, president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and of the Governatorate of Vatican City State.

AP;...;...;...;VIS;20030708;Word: 40;

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 8, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Erected the diocese of Valle de Chalco, Mexico, with territory taken from the diocese of Netzahualcoyotl, making it a suffragan of the Metropolitan Church of Tlalnepantla.

- Appointed Fr. Luis Artemio Flores Calzada, episcopal vicar of Texcoco, Mexico, as bishop of the diocese of Valle de Chalco (area 1,238, population 3,404,000, Catholics 3,400,000, priests 86, religious 206), Mexico. The bishop-elect was born in San Antonio Tultitlan, Mexico in 1949 and was ordained a priest in 1974.

- Appointed Bishop Carlos Garfias Merlos of Ciudad Altamirano, Mexico as bishop of Netzahualcoyotl (area 1,172, population 5,487,472, Catholics 5,491,872, priests 137, religious 17), Mexico. He succeeds Bishop Jose Maria Hernandez Gonzalez whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Pope accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Salvador Pineiro Garcia-Calderon, military ordinary for Peru, as auxiliary bishop of Lurin (area 185, population 2,500,000, Catholics 2,244,000, priests 50, permanent deacons 4, religious 204), Peru.

ECE; NER; RE; NEA;...;...;... ;VIS;20030708;Word: 150;