PAPAL MESSAGE FOR THE DIAMOND JUBILEE OF ELIZABETH II

Vatican City, 6 June 2012 (VIS) - Made public today was a message sent by the Holy Father to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom who is currently celebrating her Diamond Jubilee (sixty years since she became monarch). The English-language text bears the date of 23 May.

"I write to offer my warmest congratulations to Your Majesty on the happy occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of your reign. During the past sixty years you have offered to your subjects and to the whole world an inspiring example of dedication to duty and a commitment to maintaining the principles of freedom, justice and democracy, in keeping with a noble vision of the role of a Christian monarch.

"I retain warm memories of the gracious welcome accorded to me by Your Majesty at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh at the beginning of my apostolic visit to the United Kingdom in September 2010, and I renew my thanks for the hospitality that I received throughout those four days. Your personal commitment to cooperation and mutual respect between the followers of different religious traditions has contributed in no small measure to improving ecumenical and inter-religious relations throughout your realms.

"Commending Your Majesty and all the royal family to the protection of Almighty God, I renew my heartfelt good wishes on this joyful occasion and I assure you of my prayers for your continuing health and prosperity".

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 6 June 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Fr. Jose Gilson O.F.M. Cap., definitor general of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins in Rome, as bishop of Erexim (area 5,586, population 211,685, Catholics 168,800, priests 64, permanent deacons 15, religious 133), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Ibirama, Brazil in 1957 and ordained a priest in 1988. He has held a number of offices in his order including master of postulants, bursar and minister provincial of Curitiba. He has also worked as professor of ecclesiastical history at the "Studium Theologicum" of Curitiba. He succeeds Bishop Gironimo Zanandrea, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Archbishop Julio Murat, apostolic nuncio to Zambia, also as apostolic nuncio to Malawi.

NOTICE

Vatican City, 6 June 2012 (VIS) - No VIS bulletin will be transmitted tomorrow, Solemnity of Corpus Christi and a holiday in the Vatican. Service will resume on Friday 8 June.

CARDINAL QUEZADA TORUNO WAS A GENEROUS SERVANT OF THE CHURCH

Vatican City, 5 June 2012 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has sent a telegram of condolence to Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales S.D.B. of Guatemala, Guatemala, for the death of Cardinal Rodolfo Ignacio Quezada Toruno, archbishop emeritus of that metropolitan see. Cardinal Quezada Toruno died yesterday at the age of 80.

In the telegram the Pope asks the Lord to grant His peace to a man who "served the Church with such intensity and generosity during his pastoral ministry, as guide of the diocese of Zacapa and prelate of Santo Cristo de Esquipulas, then as archbishop of the metropolitan see of Guatemala.

"With faith in the Paschal Mystery of Christ which illuminates moments of suffering and fills them with hope, and in recollection of a pastor committed to the mission of evangelisation", the Pope concludes, "I am pleased to impart my special apostolic blessing to those mourning such a touching loss".

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 5 June 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Florian Worner of the clergy of Augsburg, Germany, diocesan director for the pastoral care of young people, as auxiliary of the same diocese (area 13,250, population 2,299,092, Catholics 1,360,575, priests 1020, permanent deacons 153, religious 2,125). The bishop-elect was born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in 1970 and ordained a priest in 1997. He has served in pastoral care in various parishes and has worked in the "Jugend 2000" youth association. Since 2009 he has also been vicar of the cathedral of Augsburg.