The delegation of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue will   
   meet with the academic community of the Catholic University of Western Africa   
   (UCAO) in Abidjan Cocody.   
    In Yamoussoukro, Cardinal Tauran will meet with members of the Episcopal   
   Conference of Cote d'Ivoire and will preside at Mass concelebrated in the   
   Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.   
    The visit will offer the opportunity to promote and encourage interreligious   
   dialogue in Cote d'Ivoire, in a context of respect and friendship, in   
   accordance with the teaching of Pope Francis. With this objective, various   
   meetings are scheduled with leaders of other religious traditions, especially   
   of Islam and traditional African religions, first in Korhogo, and subsequently   
   in Yamoussoukro and Abidjan.   
    On 17 March, Cardinal Tauran will pay a private visit to the president of the   
   Republic, Alessane Ouattara.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Holy See reaffirms its opposition to the death penalty   
    Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Holy See   
   Permanent Observer at the United Nations and other international organisations   
   in Geneva gave an address at the 28th Session of the Human Rights Council on 4   
   March, regarding the issue of the death penalty.   
    Speaking in English, the nuncio said, "The Delegation of the Holy See ...   
   joins an increasing number of States in supporting the fifth U.N. General   
   Assembly resolution calling for a global moratorium on the use of the death   
   penalty. Public opinion in support of the various provisions aimed at   
   abolishing the death penalty, or suspending its application, is growing. This   
   provides a strong momentum which this delegation hopes will encourage States   
   still applying the death penalty to move in the direction of its abolition".   
    The archbishop explained that twenty years ago, during the papacy of St. John   
   Paul II, the position of the Holy See was "framed within the proper ethical   
   context of defending the inviolable dignity of the human person and the role   
   of the legitimate authority to defend in a just manner the common good of   
   society". He continued, "Considering the practical circumstances found in most   
   States, as a result of steady improvements in the organisation of the penal   
   system, it appears evident nowadays that means other than the death penalty   
   are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect   
   public order and the safety of persons. For that reason, public authority must   
   limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete   
   conditions of the common good and are more in conformity with the dignity of   
   the human person".   
    Benedict XVI affirmed in 2011 that "the political and legislative initiatives   
   promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty and   
   to continue the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the   
   human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order are   
   moving in the right direction. Pope Francis has further emphasised that the   
   legislative and judicial practice of the State authority must always be guided   
   by the primacy of human life and the dignity of the human person", noting also   
   "the possibility of judicial error and the use made by totalitarian and   
   dictatorial regimes ... as a means of suppressing political dissidence or of   
   persecuting religious and cultural minorities".   
    "Respect for the dignity of every human person and the common good are the   
   two pillars on which the position of the Holy See has developed. These   
   principles converge with a similar development in international human rights   
   law and jurisprudence. Moreover, we should take into account that no clear   
   positive effect of deterrence results from the application of the death   
   penalty and that the irreversibility of this punishment does not allow for   
   eventual corrections in the case of wrongful convictions".   
    Therefore, the Holy See "contends that bloodless means of defending the   
   common good and upholding justice are possible, and calls on States to adapt   
   their penal system to demonstrate their adhesion to a more humane form of   
   punishment. As for those countries that claim it is not yet feasible to   
   relinquish this practice, my delegation encourages them to strive to become   
   capable of doing so".   
    In conclusion, the Holy See delegation "fully supports the efforts to abolish   
   the use of the death penalty. In order to arrive at this desired goal, these   
   steps need to be taken: sustaining the social reforms that would enable   
   society to implement the abolition of the death penalty and improving prison   
   conditions, to ensure respect for the human dignity of people deprived of   
   their freedom".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Archbishop Girolamo Prigione, apostolic nuncio;   
    - Archbishop Andres Carrascosa Coso, apostolic nuncio in Panama;   
    - Fourteen prelates of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, on their   
   "ad Limina" visit:   
    - Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon of Suwon, with his auxiliary, Bishop Linus Lee   
   Seong-hyo;   
    - Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon of Uijeongbu, with Bishop emeritus Joseph Lee   
   Han-taek;   
    - Bishop Jacobus Kim Ji-Seok of Wonju;   
    - Archbishop Thaddeus Cho Hwan-kil of Daegu;   
    - Bishop John Chrisostom Kwon Hyeok-ju of Andong;   
    - Bishop Paul Hwang Chul-soo of Busan, with his auxiliary, Bishop Joseph Son   
   Sam-seok;   
    - Bishop Gabriel Chang Bong-hun of Cheongnju;   
    - Bishop Francis Xavier Ahn Myong-ok of Masan, with Bishop emeritus Michael   
   Pak Jeon-il;   
    - Bishop Francis Xavier Yu Soo-il, military ordinary; and   
    - Bishop Wenceslao S. Padilla, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - appointed Rev. Fr. John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., as bishop of Lexington (area   
   42,520, population 1,601,000, Catholics 47,900, priests 64, permanent deacons   
   71, religious 89), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Amherst, Ohio, U.S.A.   
   in 1966, gave his solemn vows in 1992, and was ordained a priest in 1995. He   
   has served in a number of pastoral roles, including deputy priest,   
   administrator and parish priest of the "Our Lady of Mount Carmel" parish in El   
   Paso, Texas; vicar general of the diocese of El Paso; administrator of the   
   "Our Lady of the Valley" parish; and chancellor of the diocese of El Paso. He   
   is currently provincial vicar of the "Our Lady of Consolation" Franciscan   
   Conventual Province and rector of the Basilica and national shrine of "Our   
   Lady of Consolation", Carey, Ohio.   
    - appointed Bishop Thomas Anthony Daly, auxiliary of San Jose in California,   
   U.S.A., as bishop of Spokane (area 63,325, population 325,161, Catholics   
   107,271, priests 146, permanent deacons 43, religious 230), U.S.A.   
    - given his assent to the canonical election by the Synod of the Ukrainian   
   Greek-Catholic Church of Rev. Fr. Teodor (Taras) Martynyuk, M.S.U., as   
   auxiliary of the archieparchy of Ternopil'-Zboriv (area 8,346, population   
   636,000, Catholics 385,000, priests 320, permanent deacons 1, religious 128),   
   Ukraine. The bishop-elect was born in Yaremche, Ukraine in 1974, gave his   
   solemn vows in 1997 and was ordained a priest in 2000. He holds a doctorate in   
   Oriental canon law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute. During his pastoral   
   ministry he has served in various roles in the Lavra of Univ and the monastery   
   of St. Michael in Lviv, and as a lecturer in Oriental canon law at the   
   Pontifical Oriental Institute of Rome. He is currently Igumen of the Lavra of   
   the Dormition in Univ, Ukraine.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Notice   
    Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - We wish to inform our readers that   
   tomorrow, 13 March, the second anniversary of the election to the papacy of   
   the Holy Father Francis, the Vatican Information Service bulletin will not be   
   transmitted. The service will resume on Monday, 16 March.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
   http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/vis/vis_en.html   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)