VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXVI - # 6   
   DATE 12-01-2016   
      
   Summary:   
   - Presentation of the book-interview with Pope Francis, "The Name of God is   
   Mercy", published in 86 countries   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    Presentation of the book-interview with Pope Francis, "The Name of God is   
   Mercy", published in 86 countries   
    Vatican City, 12 January 2016 (VIS) - "The Name of God is Mercy", the book in   
   the form of an interview with Pope Francis by the Italian journalist Andrea   
   Tornielli, has been released today in 86 countries and was presented this   
   morning in the Augustinianum Institute, Rome by Cardinal Secretary of State   
   Pietro Parolin and the actor Roberto Benigni during a conference moderated by   
   the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J. The   
   event   
   was also attended by Msgr. Giuseppe Costa, director of the Vatican Publishing   
   House (LEV), and Zhang Agostino Jianquing, a detainee in the prison of Padua,   
   Italy who has converted to Christianity and received Baptism, the Eucharist and   
   Confirmation last year. An extract of one of the Oscar winner Roberto Benigni's   
   readings dedicated to "The Ten Commandments" was used by the Pope in the homily   
   he pronounced during the end of year Te Deum in 2014, in which he spoke of the   
   weakness of the human being, who at times tends towards slavery and sin for   
   fear   
   of freedom.   
    The book, whose cover bears the signature of the Pope in the Italian, Spanish,   
   French, English and Portuguese editions, is divided into nine chapters. It   
   begins with "The Time of Mercy" and concludes with "How to live the Jubilee   
   well". Throughout the other seven chapters Francis dialogues with Andrea   
   Tornielli - whom during a four-hour interview this summer, in the Domus Sanctae   
   Marthae, asked him forty questions on issues linked by the common thread of   
   mercy, described by the Pope as "God's identity card". Confession as "neither a   
   whitewash, nor a form of torture", based on listening rather than   
   interrogation,   
   recognising oneself as a sinner and the Church's condemnation of sin and   
   embracing of the sinner, the Pope's acknowledgement that he too is in need of   
   divine mercy, the need to get up again after a fall, the assertion that God's   
   logic is a logic of love that scandalises the doctors of the Law and that   
   formal   
   compliance with rules leads to a decline in our wonder at the salvation God   
   offers are some of the issues that the Holy Father considers. In Chapter 7 he   
   notes that corruption is a sin raised to a systemic level, and also reiterates   
   that compassion overcomes the globalisation of indifference, while shortly   
   before the end of the book he emphasises that practising works of mercy is the   
   cornerstone of Christian life.   
    In the book, considered by many to be a summary of Francis' teaching and   
   papacy, the Holy Father explains to the Vatican commentator of the Italian   
   newspaper "La Stampa", incorporating anecdotes from his youth and his   
   experiences as a priest, the reasons why he chose to convoke a Holy Year of   
   Mercy, the key word of his teaching.   
      
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    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 12 January 2016 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:   
    - appointed Fr. Euzebius Chinekezy Ogbonna Managwu as bishop of Port-Gentil   
   (area 22,850, population 128,000, Catholics 71,770, priests 11, religious 11),   
   Gabon. The bishop-elect was born in N'Djamena, Chad in 1959 and was ordained a   
   priest in 1992. He holds a licentiate from the Pontifical Theological Faculty   
   "Teresianum", Rome and has served in a number of pastoral roles, including   
   parish vicar, parish priest, spiritual director and rector of the Saint Jean   
   minor seminary in Libreville. He is currently episcopal vicar of the diocese of   
   Libreville and pastor of the parish of Notre Dame de l'Ogooue.   
    - given his assent to the appointment, by the Synod of Bishops of the major   
   archiepiscopal Syro-Malabar church, gathered in Mount Saint Thomas, Kerala,   
   India, of Fr. Jose Pulickal as auxiliary bishop of the eparchy of Kanjirapally   
   of the Syro-Malabars (area 2,017, population 1,365,900, Catholics 225,950,   
   priests 344, religious 2,087), India. The bishop-elect was born in Inchiyani,   
   India in 1964 and was ordained a priest in 1991. He holds a doctorate in   
   biblical theology from the Dharmaram Institute of Bangalore, and has served in   
   a   
   number of pastoral roles, including vicar of the cathedral of Kanjirapally,   
   director of catechesis, eparchial vicar and consultor. He is currently   
   protosyncellus with responsibilty for the clergy.   
      
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