AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2005 (VIS) - Following this morning's general audience, the Holy Father received in audience Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello, apostolic nuncio to Mexico.
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MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2005 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office at 11.30 a.m. on Friday, October 28, the Holy Father's Message for the 92nd World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be presented. The Day will be celebrated on January 15, 2006, and has the theme: "Migration, sign of the times." Participating in the press conference will be Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, and Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the same dicastery.
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BELIEVERS INVITED TO REAP THE FRUITS OF REDEMPTION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 26, 2005 (VIS) - Today's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square, was attended by 50,000 people who heard the Pope speak on the subject of the Canticle from the Letter to the Philippians, "Christ, Servant of God."

  Benedict XVI explained how the text contains "a double movement." The first highlights Christ's sacrifice "even to the humiliation of death on the Cross," the second "reveals Christ's paschal glory which, following death, reappears in the splendor of His divine majesty."

  The Father "exalts" the Son, said the Pope, and such exaltation "is expressed not only by His enthronement at the right hand of God, but also by bestowing on Christ 'the name which is above every name,' ... the most exalted 'name,' that of 'Lord,' which belongs to God Himself."

  "On the one hand, then, is the recognition of the universal lordship of Jesus Christ, Who receives homage from all creation, ... While on the other, is the acclamation of the faith, which declares Christ to exist in divine form, presenting Him as worthy of adoration."

  "In this hymn," the Holy Father went on, "the reference to the scandal of the cross ... culminates with the event of the resurrection. The Son's sacrificial obedience is followed by the Father's glorifying response, echoed by the adoration of humanity and creation. ... The plan of salvation is totally fulfilled in the Son, and the faithful are invited - especially in the liturgy - to proclaim it and to reap its fruits."

  "Let us seek to ensure that our thoughts and actions conform to Jesus' sentiments," the Pope then added in off-the-cuff remarks. "If we follow this path, if our thoughts and actions conform to the Lord, we live well and follow the correct path. The tenderness of God is a great consolation to us, but also a great daily responsibility."

  At the end of the general audience, the Holy Father addressed a special greeting to a group of children from the "Citta di Speranza" (City of Hope) hospital in Padua, Italy. The structure came into being in 1994 with the dual aim of building a new department of pediatric onco-hematology, which was inaugurated two years later, and to support research into childhood cancer.

  "As we heard during the catechesis," the Holy Father told the children, "the cross of Christ brings us to understand the true meaning of suffering and pain. Unite yourselves spiritually to the Crucified Christ, and abandon yourselves in the hands of Mary, constantly invoking her in the Rosary."

  Benedict XVI concluded by recalling that October, the month dedicated to the Rosary, is drawing to a close. "I invite you to recite with devotion this prayer, so dear to Christian people. Let us pray for the many needs of the Church and the world, especially for people hit by earthquakes and by physical and environmental calamities."
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 25, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Fr. Juan Carlos Romanin S.D.B., director of the Salesian community of Mar del Plata, Argentina, as Bishop of Rio Gallegos (area 265,614, population 300,000, Catholics 200,000, priests 44, permanent deacons 5, religious 88), Argentina. The bishop-elect was born in Sarandi, Argentina in 1954 and ordained a priest in 1981. He succeeds Bishop Alejandro Antonio Buccolini S.D.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Fr. David Christopher McGough, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Birmingham, England, episcopal vicar for Walsall, Wolverhampton, Black Country and Worcs., as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese (area 8,735, population 5,245,000, Catholics 286,500, priests 425, permanent deacons 72, religious 761). The bishop-elect was born in Tunstall, England in 1944 and ordained a priest in 1970.
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IN BRIEF

AT 5.30 P.M. ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, at the altar of the Confession in the Vatican Basilica, a Eucharistic concelebration will be held for the beginning of the academic year of the ecclesiastic universities. The Mass will be presided by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

CARDINAL JOSE SARAIVA MARTINS C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, is due to preside at a Eucharistic celebration in the Vatican Basilica at 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 29, during which, by order of Benedict XVI, he will read out the Apostolic Letter by which the Pope proclaims the following Servants of God as Blesseds: Josep Tapies Sirvant and six companions, priests, martyrs, died in 1936; Maria de los Angeles Ginard Martí, professed religious of the Sisters Guardians of the Eucharistic Cult, martyr (1894 - 1936).

"HINDUS AND CHRISTIANS IN SOLIDARITY" is the theme of this year's message to Hindus for Diwali, the Hindu feast which celebrates the victory of light over darkness, of good over evil. In the message, which is sent annually, Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue recalls the solidarity of so many people, "across religious boundaries" in places affected by the tidal wave that hit countries around the India Ocean in December last year. "At a time when aggressive secularism would seem to be on the increase and respect for basic human values often appears to be on the decline, such cooperation among people of different religions can bring about a new respect for religion in today's world."
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