News Vatican Information Service 10/20/2010

SUMMARY OF SYNOD OF BISHOPS:

- Unification of the Propositions

OTHER NEWS:

- Elizabeth of Hungary: Intense Love for God and Neighbour
- Benedict XVI Names Twenty-Four New Cardinals
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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UNIFICATION OF THE PROPOSITIONS

VATICAN CITY, 20 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Today Wednesday 20 October no General Congregation of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East will be held, but the relator general, the secretary general and the relators of the language groups will continue work on the unification of the propositions. Once complete, these propositions will be presented to the Pope to use as he sees fit in preparing the Apostolic Exhortation, the document which officially closes the Synod.
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ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY: INTENSE LOVE FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOUR

VATICAN CITY, 20 OCT 2010 (VIS) - In the general audience, held this morning in St. Peter's Square, the Pope dedicated his attention to St. Elizabeth of Hungary who, he remarked, "is also known as Elizabeth of Thuringia".

  The Holy Father explained how St. Elizabeth was born in the year 1207. She lived the first four years of her life in the Hungarian royal court before being promised in marriage to Ludwig of Thuringia. "Although their match was decided for political reasons", said the Holy Father, "a sincere love arose between the two young people, animated by faith and by their desire to do the will of God".

  Elizabeth, who "behaved before God as she behaved towards her subjects", is "a true example for everyone who holds positions of leadership", said Pope Benedict. "The exercise of authority at all levels must be practiced as a service to justice and charity, in the constant search for the common good".

  Having highlighted the fact that the saint "assiduously practiced works of mercy", Benedict XVI spoke of the "profound happiness" of her marriage. "Elizabeth helped her spouse to elevate his human qualities to a supernatural level while he, for his part, protected his wife in her generosity towards the poor and in her religious observances. ... This is clear testimony of how faith and love for God and for others strengthen family life and make the marriage bond even more profound".

  Elizabeth found support in the Friars Minor, something which helped her "become even more resolute in following the poor and crucified Christ, Who is present in the poor".

  Following her husband's death in 1227, Elizabeth "had to face another trial: her brother-in-law usurped the government of Thuringia, declaring himself Ludwig's heir and accusing Elizabeth of being a pious woman, incompetent to rule. The young widow with her three children was driven from the castle of Wartburg and had to look for refuge elsewhere. ... During this ordeal, which she bore with great faith, patience and dedication to God, some relatives who had remained faithful and considered her brother-in-law's government illegitimate, re-established her good name. Thus, at the beginning of 1228, Elizabeth was given a pension and retired to the family castle at Marburg".

  The Holy Father indicated that "Elizabeth spent her last three years in the hospital she founded, serving the sick and attending the dying. She always sought the most humble and repugnant tasks. She became what we could call a consecrated woman living in the world ('soror in saeculo') and formed a religious community with a number of grey-clad companions. It is no coincidence that she is patron of the Third Regular Order of St. Francis and of the Secular Franciscan Order".

  In November 1231 she fell into a high fever and died a few days later. "The testimonies of her sanctity were so many that just four years later Pope Gregory IX proclaimed her a saint. In the same year a beautiful church was built in her honour at Marburg".

  "In the figure of St. Elizabeth", Pope Benedict concluded his catechesis, "we see how faith and friendship with Christ, create a sense of justice, of universal equality, of the rights of others, and foment love and charity. From this charity comes hope, the certainty that we are loved by Christ, that the love of Christ awaits us, thus making us capable of imitating Christ and of seeing Him in others".
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BENEDICT XVI NAMES TWENTY-FOUR NEW CARDINALS

VATICAN CITY, 20 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Following today's general audience, the Holy Father announced the names of twenty-four prelates who will be created cardinals in a consistory due to be held on 20 November, eve of the Solemnity of Christ the King. The consistory will be the third of his pontificate.

  "Cardinals", said the Pope, "have the task of helping Peter's Successor carry out his mission as permanent and visible source and foundation of the Church's unity of faith and communion".

  Twenty of the new cardinals, being under the age of eighty, will be electors. Their names are:

 - Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

 - His Beatitude Antonios Naguib, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt.

 - Archbishop Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum".

 - Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, archpriest of the papal basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls.

 - Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, penitentiary major of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

 - Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

 - Archbishop Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

 - Archbishop Paolo Sardi, vice chamberlain of Holy Roman Church.

 - Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

 - Archbishop Velasio De Paolis C.S., president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See.

 - Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

 - Archbishop Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, emeritus of Lusaka, Zambia.

 - Archbishop Raul Eduardo Vela Chiriboga, emeritus Quito, Ecuador.

 - Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

 - Archbishop Paolo Romeo of Palermo, Italy.

 - Archbishop Donald William Wuerl of Washington, U.S.A.

 - Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, Brazil.

 - Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw, Poland.

 - Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 - Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany.

  Having pronounced the names of the new cardinal electors, the Pope then indicated that he had also decided to elevate to the dignity of cardinal "two prelates and two priests", all over the age of eighty and hence non-electors, for their "generosity and dedication in the service of the Church." Their names are:

 - Archbishop Jose Manuel Estepa Llaurens, military ordinary emeritus of Spain.

 - Bishop Elio Sgreccia, former president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

 - Msgr. Walter Brandmuller, former president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.

 - Msgr. Domenico Bartolucci, former director of the Pontifical Choir.
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 20 OCT 2010 (VIS) - Yesterday 19 October the Holy Father received in audience Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke O.S.B. of Eichstatt, Germany.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 20 OCT 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Bishop Pedro Brito Guimaraes of Sao Raimundo Nonato, Brazil, as archbishop of Palmas (area 29,938, population 196,000, Catholics 150,000, priests 75, permanent deacons 16, religious 84), Brazil. The archbishop-elect was born in Eliseu Martins, Brazil in 1954, he was ordained a priest in 1986 and consecrated a bishop in 2002.

 - Appointed Bishop Dirceu Vegini, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Curitiba, Brazil, as bishop of Foz do Iguacu (area 7.062, population 494,000, Catholics 393,000, priests 44, religious 82), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Laurindo Guizzardi C.S., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Bishop Sabino Ocan Odoki, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Gulu, Uganda, as bishop of Arua (area 10,561, population 1,810,000, Catholics 735,000, priests 96, permanent deacons 1, religious 220), Uganda.
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