OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Fr. Guido Plante, P.M.E., national director of the Pontifical Missionary Works and Director of the Superior Formation of the Pastoral Agents of the diocese of Choluteca, Honduras, as coadjutor bishop of the same diocese (area 5,775, population 595,500, Catholics 522,000, priests 27, religious 75). The bishop-elect was born in Montreal, Canada in 1936 and was ordained a priest in 1961.

- Appointed Bishop Antoni Dziemianko, auxiliary of Grodno, Belarus, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2004 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in audience Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the director of the Holy See Press Office, together with the personnel of the press office and the Vatican Information Service on the occasion of the 20th  anniversary of Navarro-Valls' appointment as director.
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IRAQ: PROTECTING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2004 (VIS) - Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of the Holy See Press Office, made the following declaration yesterday afternoon after the meeting of Hoshyar Zebari, minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, with Pope John Paul and then Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of State.

  "In the course of the conversations the situation in Iraq and the Middle East in general was examined.

  "The minister thanked His Holiness and his aides for the help they have always demonstrated toward Iraq and he confirmed his government's commitment to promote religious freedom and, in particular, to defend Christian communities.

  "In the discussions the painful scourge of terrorism was deplored once again, in the hopes for a speedy return to respecting for moral values which are the basis of all civilizations."
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from Archbishop Pablo Puente as apostolic nuncio in Great Britain and named Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz, apostolic nuncio to the European Communities, to succeed him.

- Appointed Fr. Reynaldo Gonda Evangelista, pastor of St. Guillermo Parish in Talisay, Batangas, the Philippines, as bishop of Boac (area 959, population 216,815, Catholics 193,585, priests 22, religious 29), the Philippines. The bishop-elect was born in Mabini, Philippines in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1986.

- Appointed the following people as members of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life: Fr. Wolf Notker, abbot primate of the Confederate Benedictine Monks, Fr. Jose Rodriguez Carballo, general minister of the Franciscan Order of the Friars Minor, Fr. Pascual Chavez Villanueva, major rector of the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco, Fr. Teresino Serra, superior general of the Combonian Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, Fr. Sean Dominic Sammon, superior general of the Marist Brothers of the Schools, Fr. Jacques Hazebroucq, head of the Priestly secular institute, Notre Dame de Vie.
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POPE RECEIVES BISHOP, PILGRIMS FROM DIOCESE OF LOURDES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 2004 (VIS) - One-hundred pilgrims from the diocese of Tarbes et Lourdes, including Bishop Jacques Perrier, were received in the Vatican this morning by Pope John Paul who thanked them for their "warm welcome" during his pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in August to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

  "I thank everyone who contributed to the fruitful realization of my trip. My thoughts go to those who are ill and to all the benefactors of shrines. I also unite myself to all pilgrims who come to entrust their intentions to Mary, Mother of the Church and our Mother, asking each one to place themselves as her disciple. Entrusting you to Our Lady and to St. Bernadette, I extend my apostolic blessing to you, to everyone in the diocese and to all who work at shrines."
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