OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Msgr. Miguel Maury Buendia, nunciature counsellor, as apostolic nuncio to Kazakhstan, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in Madrid, Spain in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1980.

 - Appointed Bishop Jose Rojas Rojas, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Caceres, Philippines, as bishop-prelate of Libmanan (area 1,862, population 530,000, Catholics 488,000, priests 35, religious 15), Philippines. He succeeds Bishop Prospero N. Arellano, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same territorial prelature the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

  On Saturday, 17 May, it was made public that he appointed Fr. Johannes Maria Trilaksyanta Pujasumarta, vicar general of the archdiocese of Semarang, Indonesia, as bishop of Bandung (area 24,449, population 40,000,000, Catholics 100,000, priests 81, religious 165), Indonesia. The bishop-elect was born in Solo/Surakarta, Indonesia in 1949 and ordained a priest in 1977.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2008 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

 - Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa, Italy and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

 - Jean-Pierre Razafy-Andriamihaingo, ambassador of Madagascar, on his farewell visit.
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HOLY SEE PAVILION AT "EXPO ZARAGOZA 2008"

VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2008 (VIS) - In the Holy See Press Office at midday today a press conference was held to present the Holy See's Pavilion in "Expo Zaragoza 2008", an international exposition due to be held in the Spanish city of Zaragoza from 14 June to 14 September on the theme: "Water and sustainable development".

  Among those participating in the press conference were Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace"; Archbishop Manuel Urena Pastor of Zaragoza; Francisco Vazquez Vazquez, Spanish ambassador to the Holy See; Juan Alberto Belloch Julbe, mayor of Zaragoza, and Emilio Fernandez-Castano commissioner general of the Expo.

  In his remarks, Cardinal Martino expressed the hope that the forthcoming exposition "will provide an opportunity to explore and raise awareness of water in the life of the world. This will be important for two reasons. First, the Social Doctrine of the Church recognises the nature of water as life-giving. ... Satisfying the needs of all, especially of those who live in poverty, must guide the use of water and of the services connected with it", he said.

  "The second reason takes us back to our faith. At our Baptism, water was used as a sign of cleansing and new life. ... Water is life giving - both physical and spiritual; it is through water that we are invited to share in the life of Christ".

  After recalling that one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals is to halve, by the year 2015, the number of people unable to access safe drinking water, the cardinal concluded by highlighting the fact that "clean water and safe sanitation are acknowledged as essential elements in the lives of every human being".

  The Holy See pavilion, then, aims to invite reflection upon this dual dimension of water: the divine and the human.

  Visitors will follow a guided tour divided into three stages. The first presents water as the source of life; the second contains a collection of works of art associated with water and its role in the history of salvation; and the third is dedicated to the importance of solidarity, recalling that many people have only limited access to this vital element and underlining the need to work together to solve the problem.

  The Holy See will also participate in other activities promoted by Expo Zaragoza 2008, her main contribution being an international ecological congress to be held from 10 to 12 July on the theme: "The ecological question: the life of man in the world". It has been organised by the archdiocese of Zaragoza and the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace", and will be attended by numerous international experts on the subject.
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MASS FOR CARDINAL GANTIN

VATICAN CITY, 17 MAY 2008 (VIS) - At 11 a.m. on Friday 23 May, at the altar of the Cathedra in the Vatican Basilica, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, accompanied by other members of the College, will celebrate Mass for the soul of Cardinal Bernardin Gantin.

  Cardinal Gantin died in Paris, France, on 13 May at the age of 86. He was the former dean of the College of Cardinals and held the title of the suburbicarian church of Palestrina.

  At the end of Friday's Eucharistic celebration, Benedict XVI will pronounce a discourse and impart his apostolic blessing.
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THE MISSION IS A DUTY OF ALL CHURCHES

VATICAN CITY, 17 MAY 2008 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received 150 representatives of the Pontifical Missionary Works (POM), a group of organisations at the service of the Pope and bishops "to put into effect the missionary mandate to evangelise people unto the ends of the earth". The POM is currently celebrating its plenary assembly.

  Having greeted Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the Pope began his remarks by recalling how the POM "was an important tool in the hands of my predecessors, who elevated it to the rank of 'Pontifical' and urged bishops to establish it in their own dioceses". He also reminded his listeners that Vatican Council II "had delved deeply into the nature and mission of particular Churches, recognising their full dignity and missionary responsibility.

  "The mission", the Pope added, "is a task and duty of all Churches, which ... share staff and resources in order to achieve it. ... It is a mission of communion. To counter the seeds of the fragmentation of humanity, which daily experience shows to be so deep-rooted in mankind because of sin, the local Church opposes the unifying power of the Body of Christ".

  "Thanks to the ideas it has developed over these decades, the Pontifical Missionary Works has become part of ... the new paradigms of evangelisation, and of the ecclesiological model of communion between Churches. Clearly the POM is Pontifical but it is, by right, also episcopal, in as much as it is an instrument in the hands of bishops to achieve Christ's missionary mandate".

  As the Church prepares to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul, Benedict XVI affirmed that the Apostle "understood on the road to Damascus, then experienced in the course of his later ministry, that redemption and mission are acts of love. It was love of Christ that impelled him to follow the roads of the Roman empire as a herald ... of the Gospel. ... It is love that must impel us to announce to all mankind, frankly and courageously, the truth that saves. ... Mankind awaits Christ".

  The Holy Father concluded: "Jesus' words: 'go therefore and make disciples of all nations' ... still represent an obligation for the whole Church and for each individual member of Christ's faithful. This apostolic commitment is a duty and an indispensable right, an expression of religious freedom which has its corresponding ethical-social and ethical-political dimensions. The Pontifical Missionary Works is called to make the 'Missio ad Gentes' the model for all pastoral activity".
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