POPE'S LETTER TO CARDINAL GIANFRANCO RAVASI

Vatican City, 23 February 2013 (VIS) – Benedict XVI, in an apostolic letter, thanked Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, for his preaching during the Lenten retreat.

“You have offered us,” the Holy Father writes, “a fascinating journey through the Psalms, following a double path: ascending and descending. The Psalms, in fact, are fundamentally oriented toward the face of God, toward the mystery in which the human mind gets lost, but the very Word of God allows us to see according to the different profiles in which God reveals himself. At the same time, in the light that shine from the face of God, praying the Psalms allows us to see the face of humanity, to recognize the truth of human joy and sorrow, human anguish and hope.”

“In this way, … the Word of God, mediated by the ancient and ever-new 'ars orandi' of the Jewish people and the Church, has allowed us to renew the 'ars credendi': a need that is highlighted by the Year of Faith and is even more necessary in this particular moment that I, personally, and the Apostolic See are living. Peter's successor and his collaborators are called to give the Church and the world a clear testimony of faith, and this is only possible thanks to a deep and abiding immersion in dialogue with God. Many today are asking: Who will show us what is good? We can answer, those who reflect God's light and face with their lives.”

SECRETARIAT OF STATE COMMUNIQUE

Vatican City, 23 February 2013 (VIS) – The freedom of the College of Cardinals, which, by law, is responsible for providing for the election of the Roman Pontiff, has always been strongly defended by the Holy See as the guarantee of a choice based solely on deliberations directed toward the good of the Church.

Over the course of the centuries, Cardinals have had to face many forms of pressures, exerted upon individual electors or upon the College of Cardinals itself, that sought to influence their decisions, following a political or worldly logic.

If in the past the so-called powers, i.e., States, sought to influence the election of the Pope, today there is an attempt to do this through public opinion, which is often based on judgements that do not capture the typically spiritual aspect of this moment that the Church is living.

It is deplorable that, as we draw closer to the moment that the Conclave will begin and the Cardinal electors will be held—in conscience and before God—to freely express their choice, there is a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable, or even completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions.

Now as never before, Catholics are focusing on what is essential: praying for Pope Benedict, praying that the Holy Spirit might enlighten the College of Cardinals, and praying for the future Pope, confident that the future of the barque of Peter is in God's hands.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 23 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

- appointed Fr. Pietro Lagnese as bishop of Ischia (area 46, population 58,800, Catholics 55,400, priests 42, permanent deacons 10, religious 46), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Vitulazio, Campania, Italy in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1986. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and administrative roles, most recently as pastor of Santa Maria dell’Agnena in Vitulazio, Italy.

- appointed Bishop Dagoberto Sosa Arriaga as bishop of Tlapa (area 6,990, population 506,000, Catholics 473,000, priests 50, religious 77), Mexico. Bishop Dagoberto, titular of Gummi in Byzacena, was previously auxiliary of Puebla de los Angeles, Puebla, Mexico.

- appointed Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Archbishop Emilio Carlos Berlie Belaunzaran, of Yucatan, Mexico, as members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

- appointed as members of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon: in the class of architects: Dr. Mario Botta, Dr. Maria Antonietta Crippa, and Dr. Lorenzo Bartolini Salimbeni; in the class of painters and filmmakers: Pedro Cano; in the class of sculptors: Giuseppe Ducrot, Mimmo Paladino, and Ugo Riva; and in the class of writers and poets: Laura Bosio, Luca Doninelli, and Vincenzo Cerami.

HOLY SEE AND REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC TIES

Vatican City, 22 February 2013 (VIS) – The Holy See and the Republic of South Sudan, desirous of promoting bonds of mutual friendship, have decided by common accord to establish diplomatic relations at the level of Apostolic Nunciature on the part of the Holy See and of Embassy on the part of the Republic of South Sudan, according to information provided in a communique today.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 22 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

- appointed Fr. Miguel Angel Olaverri Arroniz, S.D.B., as bishop of Pointe-Noire (area 13,500, population 2,384,000, Catholics 1,392,000, priests 76, religious 89), Democratic Republic of the Congo. The bishop-elect was born in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain in 1948 and was ordained a priest in 1976. Since ordination he has served in several missionary, congregational, and pastoral roles in African dioceses, most recently in DR Congo as apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Pointe-Noire, director of National Caritas, Migrant Pastoral Services, and the Justice and Peace Commission, and president of the national office for Social Communications.

- erected the Diocese of Gamboma with territory taken from the Diocese of Owando, Democratic Republic of the Congo, making it a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Brazzaville.

- appointed Fr. Urbain Ngassongo as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Gamboma (area 38,400, population 193,000, Catholics 110,000, priests 15, religious 14), Democratic Republic of the Congo. The bishop-elect, previously secretary of the Episcopal Conference of DR Congo, was born in Kinshasa, DR Congo in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1996. Since ordination he has served in several academic and pastoral roles, most recently as pastoral administrator of Balvano in Potenza, Italy.

- appointed Msgr. Ettore Balestrero as apostolic nuncio to Colombia, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop and assigning him the titular see of Vittoriana. The archbishop-elect, previously under-secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States, was born in Genoa, Italy in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1993. On entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1996, he has served as a papal legate in Korea, Mongolia, Holland, and in the section of Relations with States of the Secretariat of State.

- appointed Archbishop Leon Kalenga Badikebele as apostolic nuncio to El Salvador. Archbishop Badikebele, titular of Magnetum, was previously apostolic nuncio to Ghana.

- appointed Msgr. Miroslaw Adamczyk as apostolic nuncio to Libera, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop and assigning him the titular see of Oticoli. The archbishop-elect was born in Gdansk, Poland in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1987. On entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1993, he has served in the apostolic nunciatures of Madagascar, India, Hungary, Belgium, South Africa, and Venezuela.

- appointed Msgr. Michael W. Banach as titular archbishop of Memfi, at the same time assigning him the office of apostolic nuncio. The archbishop-elect was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA and was ordained a priest in 1988. He previously served as Holy See permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA), to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (ONUDI), and to the Office of the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.

- appointed Msgr Brian Udaigwe as titular archbishop of Suelli, at the same time assigning him the office of apostolic nuncio. The archbishop-elect was born in Tiko, Southwest Province, Cameroon in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1992. On entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1994, he has served as a papal legate in Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Haiti, Bulgaria, Thailand, and Great Britain.

- appointed Msgr. Antoine Camilleri as under-secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States. Msgr. Camilleri was previously a nunciature counsellor of the Secretariat of State.