VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 122   
   DATE 01-07-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - POPE FRANCIS JOINS IN THE SUFFERING OF THE FAMILIES OF THREE MURDERED   
   ISRAELI TEENAGERS   
   - STATISTICS ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA   
   - IN MEMORIAM   
   - OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    POPE FRANCIS JOINS IN THE SUFFERING OF THE FAMILIES OF THREE MURDERED ISRAELI   
   TEENAGERS   
    Vatican City, 1 July 2014 (VIS) - "The news of the killing of the three young   
   abducted Israelis is terrible and dramatic", declared the director of the Holy   
   See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., late yesterday afternoon. "The   
   assassination of innocent people is always an execrable and unacceptable   
   crime, and a very serious obstacle on the path towards the peace for which we   
   must tirelessly continue to strive and pray. Violence begets violence, and   
   feeds the vicious circle of hatred. Pope France participates in the   
   unspeakable suffering of the families struck by this homicidal violence and   
   the pain of all persons afflicted by the consequences of hatred, and prays   
   that God might inspire all with thoughts of compassion and peace".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    STATISTICS ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA   
    Vatican City, 1 July 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father will make an apostolic trip   
   to the Republic of Korea from 13 to 18 August, on the occasion of the 6th   
   Asian Youth Day. The following statistics relate to the Catholic Church in   
   Korea, dating from 31 December 2013, and are provided by the Central Office of   
   Church Statistics.   
    The Republic of Korea has an area of 99,268 square kilometres and a   
   population of 50,220,000, of whom 5,393,000 are Catholics, corresponding to   
   10.7% of the population. There are 16 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 1,673   
   parishes and 843 pastoral centres. The apostolate is carried out by 35   
   bishops, 4,261 priests, 516 male religious and 9,016 female religious, 123 lay   
   missionaries and 14,195 catechists. There are 395 minor and 1,489 major   
   seminarians.   
    There are 328 educational centres of all levels directed or owned by the   
   Catholic Church throughout the Republic of Korea, in which there are 221,020   
   students, as well as 49 special centres. There are also 200 health and welfare   
   centres belonging to or directed by the Church: 40 hospitals, 4 clinics, 9   
   leper colonies, 513 rest homes for the elderly and disabled, 277 orphanages   
   and nurseries, and 83 centres for family counselling and the protection of   
   life.   
      
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    IN MEMORIAM   
    Vatican City, 1 July 2014 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:   
    - Bishop Joseph Befe Ateba of Kribi, Cameroon, on 4 June at the age of 52.   
    - Bishop Alejandro Antonio Buccolini, S.D.B, emeritus of Rio Gallegos,   
   Argentina, on 6 June at the age of 84.   
    - Bishop Juan Maria Leonardi Villasmil of Punto Fijo, Venezuela, on 7 June at   
   the age of 67.   
    -Cardinal Bernard Agre, archbishop emeritus of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on 9   
   June at the age of 88.   
    - Bishop Vital Joao Geraldo Wilderink, O. Carm., emeritus of Itaguai, Rio de   
   Janeiro, Brazil, on 11 June at the age of 82.   
    - Archbishop Moacyr Jose Vitti, C.S.S. of Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, on 26   
   June at the age of 73.   
    - Bishop Bernard Ferdinand Popp, emeritus of San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., on   
   27 June at the age of 96.   
    - Archbishop Petero Mataca, emeritus of Suva, Fiji, on 30 June at the age of   
   81.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
    Vatican City, 1 July 2014 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed the following   
   as consultors of the Pontifical Council for Culture:   
    Fr. Paul Bere, S.J., professor of sacred scripture at the Theological   
   Institute of the Society of Jesus in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire; Fr. Pablo d'Ors,   
   C.M.F., director of the theatre writing workshop of the University of Madrid,   
   Spain; Fr. Kevin Fitzgerald, S.J., lecturer in bioethics at Georgetown   
   University, U.S.A.; Fr. Fernando Ortega, dean of the faculty of theology at   
   the Pontifical Catholic University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Professor   
   Edward Alam, U.S.A., lecturer in philosophy and theology at the Notre Dame   
   University in Louaize, Lebanon; Professor Ralf van Buhren, Federal Republic of   
   Germany, lecturer in Christian art and religious architecture at the faculty   
   of social communication of the Pontifical University of the Sacred Heart,   
   Rome; Professor Glen Chatelier, director of the office for international   
   affairs at the Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand; Edio Costantini,   
   director of the "Luigi Gedda" national study centre of the Centro Sportivo   
   Italiano - CSI, Italy; Professor Ivano Dionigi, rector of the University of   
   Bologna and president of the Pontificia Accademia Latinitatis, Italy; Joachim   
   Hake, director of the Katholische Akademie of Berlin, Federal Republic of   
   Germany; Choe Hyondok, Korea, coordinator of the Catedra de Estudios de Corea   
   y del Este Asiatico at the University of Costa Rica; Marguerite Lena, lecturer   
   in philosophy at the College des Bernardins in Paris, France; and Piotr   
   Pasterczyk, lecturer in cultural history at the Catholic University of Lublin,   
   Poland.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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