Subject: VISnews 111229   
   Organization: VIS   
   From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt    
      
   VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
      
   TWENTY FIRST YEAR - N. 228   
   ENGLISH   
   THURSDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2011   
      
   SUMMARY:   
      
   - Fr. Lombardi Reviews Pope's Activities in 2011   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   FR. LOMBARDI REVIEWS POPE'S ACTIVITIES IN 2011   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 29 DEC 2011 (VIS) - In a recent interview on Vatican Radio,   
   Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. reviewed the   
   activities of the Holy Father over the course of 2011. A summary of his   
   remarks is given below.   
      
     Fr. Lombardi first turned his attention to the Pope's trips, noting that   
   the visit to Germany in September had reflected the Holy Father's concern to   
   speak to modern secularised society, especially in Europe, about God and His   
   primacy. By contrast, his visit to Spain for World Youth Day was "a great   
   experience of the vitality of the faith, of its future". In Benin, Benedict   
   XVI had signed the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Africa munus" in   
   which he examines the problems facing Africa and "identifies reasons for   
   realistic hope with which to face the future, recognising the dignity of the   
   African people", Fr. Lombardi said.   
      
     Another key moment of 2011 was the inter-religious meeting at Assisi in   
   October, which had focused on "the search for truth". The event had been   
   attended not just by representatives of different religious confessions, but   
   also by "people who, though they do not recognise a God, sincerely seek   
   after the truth".   
      
     Among the documents published during 2011, Fr. Lombardi mentioned the Motu   
   Proprio "Porta Fidei" with which Benedict XVI proclaims a "Year of Faith" to   
   begin in October 2012. This, he noted, is associated with one of the great   
   themes of the pontificate: new evangelisation. The Holy See Press Office   
   Director also recalled the recent Mass to mark the independence of various   
   Latin American countries, during which the Pope had announced his   
   forthcoming trip to Mexico and Cuba.   
      
     At Christmas every year the Holy Father makes special visits of   
   solidarity, and this year's took him to the Roman prison of Rebbibia where   
   he gave spontaneous answers to questions put to him by the inmates. That   
   meeting, said Fr. Lombardi, shows "how the Church, though recognising that   
   civil society has legislative responsibility for dramatic issues such as   
   justice and prisons, ... can send out a strong message ... about   
   reconciliation, hope and reintegration into society".   
      
     Also during 2011 the Pope was able to speak with astronauts orbiting the   
   earth on the international space station, "thus underlining with great   
   willingness and joy the Church's benevolence towards scientific research and   
   technology, when they serve the good of humanity". The beatification of John   
   Paul II was another key moment of the past year, which "mobilised the entire   
   Church" and was experienced "with immense delight".   
      
     The year also saw the publication of part two of Joseph Ratzinger's book   
   "Jesus of Nazareth", focusing on the death and resurrection of Christ. "We   
   continue to hope", Fr. Lombardi concluded, "that he will write a third   
   volume, on the infancy, in order to complete this extraordinarily vivid and   
   profound presentation of Jesus for us today".   
   OP/                                                                     VIS   
   20111229 (480)   
      
   OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 29 DEC 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father:   
      
    - Appointed Bishop Waclaw Depo of Zamosc-Lubaczow, Poland, as archbishop of   
   Czestochowa (area 6,925, population 824,993, Catholics 819,921, priests 901,   
   religious 1,165), Poland. He succeeds Archbishop Stanislaw Nowak, whose   
   resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father   
   accepted, upon having reached the age limit.   
      
    - Appointed Bishop Jan Kopiec, auxiliary of Opole, Poland, as bishop of   
   Gliwice (area 2,250, population 725,500, Catholics 660,900, priests 473,   
   religious 357), Poland. He succeeds Bishop Jan Walenty Wieczorek, whose   
   resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father   
   accepted, upon having reached the age limit.   
      
    - Appointed as members of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications:   
   Cardinal Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia; Cardinal Oswald   
   Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India; Cardinal John Njue, archbishop of   
   Nairobi, Kenya; Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa,   
   Democratic Republic of Congo; Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan of New York,   
   U.S.A.; Archbishop Mark Benedict Coleridge of Canberra and Goulburn,   
   Australia; Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical   
   Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation; Bishop Manuel Jose Macario do   
   Nascimento Clemente of Porto, Portugal; Bishop Joseph Befe Ateba of Kribi,   
   Cameroon, and Bishop Barthelemy Adoukonou, secretary of the Pontifical   
   Council for Culture.   
      
    - Appointed as consultors of the Pontifical Council for Social   
   Communications: Fr. Antonino Spadaro S.J., director of the magazine "Civilta   
   Cattolica"; Fr. Eric Salobir O.P., general assistant for social   
   communications of the Order of Friars Preachers, France; Fr. Augustine   
   Savarimuthu S.J., director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social   
   Communications of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; Sr. Dominica   
   Dipio O.P. associate professor of literature at the Makerere University in   
   Kampala, Uganda; Antonio Preziosi, director of "Giornale Radio Rai" and of   
   "Rai Radio Uno"; Erminio Fragassa, president and managing director of   
   "MicroMegas Comunicazione S.p.A."; Marco Tarquinio, director of the   
   "Avvenire" newspaper; Paul Wuthe, secretary of the media commission of the   
   Austrian Bishops' Conference; Greg Erlandson, president of the Catholic   
   Press Association, U.S.A.; Gian Maria Vian, director of the "Osservatore   
   Romano" newspaper, and Susana Nuin Nunez of the Focolari Movement, executive   
   secretary of the commission for social communications media of the Latin   
   American Episcopal Council (CELAM).   
   NER:RE:NA/                                                              VIS   
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