VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 120   
   DATE 26-06-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Pope to the International Catholic Conference of Guiding: the education   
   of   
   women is vital   
   - The Holy See and the State of Palestine sign a general Agreement   
   - Agreement between the State of Palestine and the Holy See: look to the future   
   without forgetting the past   
   - Metropolitan archbishops to receive the pallium   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
   - Notice   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope to the International Catholic Conference of Guiding: the education of   
   women is vital   
    Vatican City, 26 June 2015 (VIS) - "Education is the indispensable means for   
   enabling girls to grow into active and responsible women, proud and happy in   
   the   
   faith in Christ they live in their everyday life. In this way they will   
   participate in the construction of a world imbued with the Gospel", said Pope   
   Francis to delegates from the International Catholic Conference of Guiding   
   (ICCG), whom he received in audience this morning, gathered in Rome on the   
   fiftieth anniversary of the institution's foundation to analyse the theme:   
   "Living as guides the joy of the Gospel".   
    The ICCG unites national associations of Catholic guides and national   
   interconfessional guiding organisations. Its aim is to help member associations   
   to transform guiding into a genuine tool for education in faith and to make its   
   pedagogical richness, formative activities and experience in interconfessional   
   collaboration more widely known.   
    The Holy Father emphasised the excellence of the theme chosen for the meeting   
   and the programme it has given rise to: "proclaiming to others, through the   
   witness of our own life, that encountering Jesus frees us and heals us ...   
   opens   
   us to other and drives us to announce him, especially to the poorest and most   
   distant, the lonely and abandoned".   
    He invited the delegates to be faithful to the principles of their movement   
   and   
   to establish a sincere dialogue with guides of different cultures and   
   religions,   
   with respect for the beliefs of each one, and serenely affirming their Catholic   
   faith and identity. Pope Francis then went on to speak about his recent   
   Encyclical "Laudato si'", in which he states that education in ecology is   
   essential to transform habits and ways of thinking so as to overcome the   
   troubling challenges that face humanity in relation to the environment. "I   
   think   
   that the guiding movement, which in its educational method accords an important   
   role to contact with nature, is particularly well-disposed to this", he said.   
   "I   
   hope that guides will continue to be alert to the presence and the goodness of   
   the Creator in the beauty of the world that surrounds them. This contemplative   
   attitude will lead them to live in harmony with themselves, with others and   
   with   
   God. It is a new way of life, more coherent with the Gospel, that they will be   
   able to transmit to others around them".   
    Finally, the Pope reiterated the need to ensure that the importance of women   
   is   
   recognised, so that they take their rightful place both in the Church and in   
   society. "Here too, the role of educational associations such as yours, that   
   address young girls, is absolutely essential for the future, and your teaching   
   must be clear on these issues. We are in a world where we see the spread of   
   ideologies contrary to nature and God's design for the family and marriage. It   
   is therefore a question not only of educating girls in the beauty and greatness   
   of their vocation as women, in a just relationship recognising the difference   
   between man and woman, but also to take on important responsibilities in the   
   Church and in society. In some countries where women are still in a position of   
   inferiority, or even exploited and mistreated, you certainly have a significant   
   role to play in promotion and education. I ask you not to forget, in your   
   pedagogic approach, the necessary and explicit openness to the possibility of a   
   life consecrated to the Lord, an area in which the guiding movement has   
   historically been fruitful".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Holy See and the State of Palestine sign a general Agreement   
    Vatican City, 26 June 2015 (VIS) - Today, Friday 26 June, in the Vatican   
   Apostolic Palace, a Comprehensive Agreement was signed between the Holy See and   
   the State of Palestine. The accord follows on the Basic Agreement which was   
   signed between the Holy See and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) on   
   15 February 2000 and is the result of the negotiations undertaken by a   
   bilateral   
   working commission over the past years.   
    Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, signed on   
   behalf of the Holy See and Riad Al-Malki, minister of Foreign Affairs, signed   
   for the State of Palestine.   
    The following took part in the solemn act:   
    For the Holy See: Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, apostolic delegate to   
   Jerusalem and Palestine; Archbishop Antonio Franco, apostolic nuncio; His   
   Beatitude Fouad Twal, Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins; Mgr. Antoine   
   Camilleri, under-secretary for the Holy See's Relations with States; Fr.   
   Lorenzo   
   Lorusso, O.P., under-secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches;   
   Mgr. Alberto Ortega, official of the Section for Relations with States of the   
   Secretariat of State; Mgr. Paolo Borgia, official of the Section for General   
   Affairs of the Secretariat of State; and Fr. Oscar Marzo, O.F.M., member of the   
   Custody of the Holy Land and Official of the Congregation for the Oriental   
   Churches.   
    For the State of Palestine: Ramzi Khoury, advisor to the president and deputy   
   head of the Presidential Higher Committee on Church Affairs in Palestine;   
   Ambassador Issa Kassissieh, representative of the State of Palestine to the   
   Holy   
   See; Ambassador Rawan Sulaiman, assistant foreign minister for Multilateral   
   Affairs; Vera Baboun, mayor of Bethlehem; Moussa Abu Hadeed, mayor of Ramallah;   
   Ammar Hijazi, deputy assistant foreign minister for Multilateral Affairs; Azem   
   Bishara, legal advisor of the PLO; Ammar Nisnas, counsellor of the diplomatic   
   representation of the State of Palestine to the Holy See.   
    The Agreement is comprised of a preamble and 32 articles distributed in 8   
   chapters. It deals with essential aspects of the life and activity of the   
   Catholic Church in the State of Palestine, while reaffirming support for a   
   negotiated and peaceful resolution of the situation in the region. It will come   
   into effect when both Parties have notified each other in writing that the   
   relevant constitutional or internal requirements have been met.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Agreement between the State of Palestine and the Holy See: look to the future   
   without forgetting the past   
    Vatican City, 26 June 2015 (VIS) - The following is a summary of the content   
   of   
   the Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine, based on the   
   text   
   provided by L'Osservatore Romano.   
    The Agreement has a specific nature that takes into account the legal and   
   political situations that surround the conflict, and the rules that have   
   gradually built up over the centuries. The Preamble, which refers to current   
   international law, frames a series of key points: the self-determination of the   
   Palestinian people; the objective of the two-state solution; the meaning, not   
   only symbolic, of Jerusalem, in terms of its holy character for Jews,   
   Christians   
   and Muslims and its universal religious and cultural value as heritage for all   
   humanity; and the Holy See's interests in the Holy Land. The two Parties,   
   considering their mutual daily relations, indicate in the negotiated agreement   
   a   
   way of working, together and separately, not only in defining the condition of   
   the Catholic Church in Palestine but also for the good of people and   
   institutions. The Agreement is therefore an instrument for use in the process   
   of   
   attaining that "just and lasting" peace that may be the result only of an   
   agreement between the Palestinian and Israeli authorities. The idea that the   
   future of the Holy Land rests in the hands of the actors present there is   
   supported by the Holy See's wish to exercise her "educational, spiritual and   
   moral mission", but - with reference to and amplifying the formula of Article   
   24   
   of the Lateran Pact, the Holy See "shall take no part in any temporal rivalries   
   between other States, nor in any international congresses called to settle such   
   matters, save and except in the event of such parties making a mutual appeal to   
   the pacific mission of the Holy See".   
    Chapter 2 of the Agreement relates to the theme of freedom of worship and   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)