IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, DEC 2, 2005 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

 - Bishop Bernard Bududira of Bururi, Burundi, on November 19, at the age of 71.

 - Bishop Luis Gabriel Cuara Mendez of Veracruz, Mexico, on November 20, at the age of 66.

 - Bishop Jean-Claude Hertzog, auxiliary of Bordeaux, France, on November 24, at the age of 70.

- Bishop James McLoughlin, emeritus of Galway and Kilmacduagh, Ireland, on November 25, at the age of 76.

- Bishop Jose Rolando Gustavo Prevost Godard P.M.E., former apostolic vicar of Pucallpa, Peru, on November 13, at the age of 91.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 2, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Jose Rafael Quiros Quiros of the clergy of the archdiocese of San Jose de Costa Rica, vicar general, as bishop of Limon (area 10,835, population 446,912, Catholics 348,591, priests 36, religious 52), Costa Rica. The bishop-elect was born in Llano Grande, Colombia in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1981.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, DEC 2, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences eighteen bishops from the Conference of the Polish Episcopate on their "ad limina" visit:

    - Archbishop-Bishop Alfons Nossol of Opole, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Jan Kopiec and Pawel Stobrawa.

    - Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy of Bielsko-Zywiec, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop Janusz Edmund Zimniak.

    - Bishop Kazimierz Ryczan if Kielce, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Marian Florczyk and Kazimierz Gurda.

    - Bishop Wiktor Skworc of Tarnow, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop Stanislaw Budzik.

    - Archbishop Wladyslaw Ziolek of Lodz, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishops Adam Lepa and Ireneusz Jozef Pekalski.

    - Bishop Andrzej Dziuba of Lowicz, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop Jozef Zawitkowski, and by Bishop emeritus Alojzy Orszulik S.A.C.

    - Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl of the Latins, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop Adam Szal.

  This evening, he is scheduled to receive in audience Archbishop William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, accompanied by Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., secretary of the same congregation.
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POPE ATTENDS FIRST SERMON OF ADVENT

VATICAN CITY, DEC 2, 2005 (VIS) - This morning, in the Vatican's "Redemptoris Mater" chapel, the Pope attended the first sermon of Advent, delivered, in keeping with tradition, by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa O.F.M. Cap., preacher of the Pontifical Household.

  The theme of this year's meditations is: "We preach Jesus Christ as Lord (2 Cor. 4, 5). Faith in Christ today." The remaining three Advent sermons will be given on December 9, 16 and 23.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 1, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Guarda, Portugal, presented by Bishop Antonio dos Santos, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Manuel da Rocha Felicio.

 - Appointed Fr. George J. Rassas of the clergy of the archdiocese of Chicago, U.S.A., vicar general, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 3,653, population 6,104,000, Catholics 2,442,000, priests 1,781, permanent deacons 632, religious 3,953). The bishop-elect was born in 1942 and ordained a priest in 1968.

 - Appointed Fr. Wojciech Giertych O.P., member of the general council of the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans) and professor of moral theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome and at the "Studium" in the Dominican province of Poland, as theologian of the Pontifical Household.
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