MORE THAN TWO MILLION PEOPLE ATTEND PAPAL EVENTS IN 2009

VATICAN CITY, 5 JAN 2010 (VIS) - During the course of the year 2009, a total of 2,243,900 faithful and pilgrims participated in general or special audiences, in the Sunday Angelus or in liturgical celebrations presided by the Pope.

  According to statistics released by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, more than half a million people attended the Wednesday general audiences, the month of April registering the highest attendance figures, and 1,120,000 were present for the Sunday praying of the Angelus.

  A communique concerning the statistics explains that the figures are approximate, being calculated on the basis of various factors: formal requests received to attend the events, tickets issued, and (in the case of the Angelus or large celebrations in St. Peter's Square and the Vatican Basilica) calculations of the number of faithful present.

  The statistics, the communique concludes, refer exclusively to celebrations and events held in the Vatican and Castelgandolfo, and do not take account of the Pope's meetings with large numbers of faithful during his pastoral visits within Italy or on his apostolic trips to other countries.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 5 JAN 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Germany, presented by Bishop Franz Dietl, in accordance with canons 411 and 401 para. 1 of the Code of Canon Law.

 - Appointed Msgr. Wolfgang Bischof of the clergy of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, Germany, regional pastor for the northern pastoral zone and vicar of the cathedral chapter, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 12,081, population 3,533,000, Catholics 1,818,661, priests 1,307, permanent deacons 226, religious 3,122). The bishop-elect was born in Freising in 1960 and ordained a priest in 1988.

 - Appointed Fr. Abba Lisane-Christos Matheos Semahun, vicar general of the archieparchy of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, as auxiliary of the same archieparchy (area 291,424, population 25,892,000, Catholics 28,132, priests 83, religious 402) with specific pastoral responsibility for the zone of Bahir Dar. The bishop-elect was born in Gurage, Ethiopia in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1988.

 - Appointed as members of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications: Archbishop Thomas Christopher Collins of Toronto Canada; Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok, Thailand; Bishop Bechara Rai O.M.M. of Jbeil, Byblos of the Maronites, Lebanon; Bishop Hector Luis Gutierrez Pabon of Engativa, Colombia, and Bishop Joan Piris Frigola of Lleida, Spain.
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IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, 5 JAN 2010 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

 - Bishop Estevao Cardoso de Avellar O.P., emeritus of Uberlandia, Brazil, on 3 December 2009 at the age of 92.

 - Bishop Gilbert Duchene, emeritus of Saint-Claude, France, on 29 November 2009 at the age of 90.

 - Bishop Emilio Eid, former vice president of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, on 30 November 2009 at the age of 84.

 - Archbishop Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti C.P., emeritus of Camerino-San Severino Marche, Italy, on 13 December 2009 at the age of 78.

 - Bishop Anthony Saliu Sanusi, emeritus of Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, on 8 December 2009 at the age of 98.

 - Bishop Lucas Abadamloora of Navrongo-Bolgatanga, Ghana, on 23 December 2009 at the age of 71.

 - Bishop Roberto Amadei, emeritus of Bergamo, Italy, on 29 December 2009 at the age of 76.

 - Bishop Adrian Kivumbi Ddungo, emeritus of Masaka, Uganda, on 30 December 2009 at the age of 86.

 - Bishop Jerome Michel Martin O.F.M. Cap., emeritus of Berberati, Central African Republic, on 4 December 2009 at the age of 68.

 - Archbishop Arnaldo Ribeiro, emeritus of Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, on 15 December 2009 at the age of 79.

 - Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf of Le Caire of the Chaldeans, Egypt, on 31 December 2009 at the age of 69.

 - Bishop Henry Anthony A. van Lieshout C.M.M., emeritus of Lae, Papua New Guinea, on 24 December 2009 at the age of 77.

 - Bishop Joseph Voss, auxiliary of Munster, Germany, on 16 December 2009 at the age of 72.
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NOTICE

VATICAN CITY, 5 JAN 2010 (VIS) - As previously advised, no VIS bulletin will be issued tomorrow Wednesday 6 January, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, the next service will be transmitted on Thursday 7 January.
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MESSAGE FOR THE OPENING OF THE COMPOSTELA HOLY YEAR

VATICAN CITY, 31 DEC 2009 (VIS) - The Pope has sent a Message to Archbishop Julian Barrio Barrio of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, for the solemn opening of the Compostela Holy Year which took place this evening in the cathedral of Santiago. The Holy Year is celebrated in years in which the feast of the Apostle James (25 July) falls on a Sunday.

  In the message, which Archbishop Barrio read out during the course of the Eucharistic celebration that followed the opening of the Holy Door, Benedict XVI writes that the theme of this latest Compostela Holy year - "On pilgrimage towards the light" - and the pastoral letter written for the occasion - "Pilgrims of faith and witnesses of the risen Christ" - are in faithful keeping with tradition and "re-present that tradition as a call to evangelisation to the men and women of today, recalling the essentially pilgrim nature of the Church and of Christians in this world".

  "Pilgrims, open to wonder and to transcendence, must allow themselves to be instructed by the Word of God so as to divest their faith of ungrounded beliefs and fears", the Pope writes. "This is what the Lord did with His disciples who, dazed and discouraged, travelled the road to Emmaus".

  The Holy Father asks God "to accompany pilgrims, to make Himself known and enter their hearts. ... This is the true goal, the grace which the mere physical journeying of the Way cannot achieve alone, and which leads pilgrims to become witnesses before others to the fact that Christ lives and is our undying hope of salvation".

  "During this Holy Year, in keeping with the current Year for Priests, a decisive role falls to the clergy, whose spirit of welcome and commitment to the faithful and to pilgrims has to be particularly generous", writes Pope Benedict. In this context he calls on priests to pay particular heed to "the administration of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, because the most sought-after, valuable and characteristic element of the Holy Year is forgiveness and the encounter with the living Christ".

  Benedict XVI likewise expresses his "particular closeness to the pilgrims who are arriving and will continue to arrive in Santiago", inviting them "to treasure the profound experiences of faith, charity and fraternity they encounter on their journey, and to seek especially to live the Way as an interior experience, responding to the call that the Lord makes to each one of them".

  "I invite them too", he concludes, "as they say their prayers, not to forget those who were unable to accompany them, their families and friends, the sick and the needy, emigrants, those whose faith is fragile and the People of God with their pastors".
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