News From The Vatican Information Services 04/28/2006

SUMMARY:

- Pope's Telegram for Victims of Attack in Nassiriya
- Help Children and Young People to Find True Happiness
- Decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
- Celebrations Presided by the Holy Father: May and June
- Holy Father's Prayer Intentions For May
- Audiences
- Note

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POPE'S TELEGRAM FOR VICTIMS OF ATTACK IN NASSIRIYA

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - Following is a telegram sent by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, in the name of the Holy Father, to Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, military ordinary for Italy, regarding the attack of April 27th in Nassiriya, Iraq in which three Italians and one Romanian were killed.

"The Supreme Pontiff received with great sadness news of the attack in Nassiriya in which three Italian members of the armed forces and a Romanian colleague, generously contributing in a mission of peace, lost their lives. The Holy Father expresses his firm condemnation of this new act of violence which, together with other cruel acts perpetrated in Iraq, constitutes yet another obstacle in the path toward harmony and reconstruction in that tormented country."

"His Holiness would like to express his profound spiritual closeness to the families of the victims in the midst of a grave sorrow which also effects the Italian and Romanian armed forces and their respective national communities. The Holy Father also assures his fervent prayers for the young lives cut short, invoking heavenly consolation for those who mourn this tragic loss and he sends to all a special apostolic blessing, thinking in particular about those wounded and those, both civilian and military, who are dedicated to the arduous task of helping the people of Iraq, subjugated to so many difficulties."
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HELP CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE TO FIND TRUE HAPPINESS

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from the Pope to participants in the 12th plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which is being held in the Vatican from April 28 to May 2, on the theme: "Vanishing Youth? Solidarity with Children and Young People in an Age of Turbulence."

Benedict XVI opens his Message by affirming the existence of "two significant and interconnected trends: on the one hand, an increase in life expectancy, and, on the other, a decrease in birth rates."

"This situation is the result of multiple and complex causes - often of an economic, social and cultural character - which you have proposed to study," he adds. "But its ultimate roots can be seen as moral and spiritual; they are linked to a disturbing deficit of faith, hope and, indeed, love. ... Perhaps the lack of such creative and forward-looking love is the reason why many couples today choose not to marry, why so many marriages fail, and why birth rates have significantly diminished."

Often children and young people, "instead of feeling loved and cherished, appear to be merely tolerated. In 'an age of turbulence' they frequently lack adequate moral guidance from the adult world," and many of them "now grow up in a society which is forgetful of God. ... In a world shaped by the accelerating processes of globalization, they are often exposed solely to materialistic visions of the universe, of life and human fulfillment."

"Parents, educators and community leaders ... can never renounce their duty to set before children and young people the task of choosing a life project directed towards authentic happiness, one capable of distinguishing between truth and falsehood, good and evil, justice and injustice, the real world and the world of 'virtual reality'."

Pope Benedict encourages the participants in the plenary to give "due consideration to the question of human freedom, which is "the condition for authentic human growth. Where such freedom is lacking or endangered, young people experience frustration and become incapable of striving generously for the ideals which can give shape to their lives as individuals and as members of society."

Christians, the Holy Father concludes, cannot fail "to be convinced that faith, lived out in the fullness of charity and communicated to new generations, is an essential element in the building of a better future and safeguarding intergenerational solidarity."
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DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS)- Today, during a private audience with Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorized the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:

MIRACLES

- Blessed Filippo Smaldone, Italian, diocesan priest, founder of the Congregation of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1848 - 1923).

- Blessed Rafaele Guizar Valencia, Mexican, bishop of Veracruz, Mexico (1878 - 1938).

- Blessed Rosa Venerini, Italian, foundress of the Congregation delle Maestre Pie Venerini (1656 - 1728).

- Blessed Teodora Guerin, ne Anna Teresa, French, foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary of the Woods in the United States. (1798 - 1856).

- Venerable Servant of God Basile Antonio Maria Moreau, French, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross (1799 - 1873).

- Venerable Servant of God Mariano de la Mata Aparicio, Spanish, priest of the Order of Saint Augustine. (1905 - 1983).

- Venerable Servant of God Margarita Maria Lopez de Maturana, Spanish, foundress of the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of Mercy (1884 - 1934).

MARTYRS

- Servants of God Cruz Laplana y Laguna, Spanish, bishop of Cuenca, Spain (1875 - 1936) and Fernando Espanol Berdie, Spanish, diocesan priest (1875 - 1936).

- Servant of God Narciso Estenaga Echevarria, Spanish, bishop of Ciudad Real, Spain (1882 - 1936).

- Servant of God Libero Gonzalez Nombela, Spanish, diocesan priest (1896 - 1936).

- Servant of God Eusebio del Bambino Gesu, Spanish, professed priest of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites (1888 - 1936).

- Servant of God Felice Echevarria Gorostiaga, Spanish, professed priest of the Order of the Minor Friars (1893 - 1936).

- Servant of God Teodosio Rafael ne Diodoro Lopez Hernandez, Spanish, professed religious in the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian School (1898 - 1936) and three brothers from the same institute.

- Servant of God Sara Salkahazi, Hungarian, of the Institute of the Sisters of the Assistance (1899 - 1944).


HEROIC VIRTUES

- Servant of God Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Cardinal of S.R.C., Spanish, archbishop of Toledo, Spain, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cardinal Sancha (1833 - 1909).

- Servant of God Vincenza Maria Poloni ne Luigia, Italian, foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona (1802 - 1855).

- Servant of God Maria Bucchi ne Maria Matilde, Italian, foundress of the Congregation of the Most Precious Blood of Monza (1812 - 1882).

- Servant of God Esperanza Gonzalez Puig, Spanish, foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1823 - 1885).

- Servant of God Cataline Coromina Agusti, Spanish, foundress of the Institute Josephine Sisters of Charity (1824 - 1893).

- Servant of God Maria Dolores Marquez Romero de Onoro, Spanish, foundress of the Congregation of the Philippian Daughters of Sorrowful Mary (1817 - 1904).

- Servant of God Maria Rosa Flesch, German, ne Margherita, foundress of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Mary of the Angels (1826 - 1906).

- Giuseppina Nicoli, Italian, of the Society of the daughters of Charity (1863 - 1924).
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CELEBRATIONS PRESIDED BY THE HOLY FATHER: MAY AND JUNE

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - Today, the Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff published the calendar for the celebrations that the Holy Father will preside from May to June.

MAY

- Monday, 1: At 5:30pm, the Holy Father will visit the Sanctuary of the Virgin Mary of Divine Love (close to Rome) and will pray the rosary.

- Saturday 6: At 9:30pm, the Holy Father will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.

- Sunday 7: The fourth Sunday of Easter, at 9:00am in the Vatican Basilica, the Pope will ordain to the priesthood deacons from the diocese of Rome.

- Thursday 25-Sunday 28: Apostolic trip to Poland.

JUNE:
- Saturday 3: At 8:30pm in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father will preside at the Pentecost Vigil with the participation of various ecclesial movements and the new communities.

- Sunday 4: The Solemnity of Pentecost, Holy Mass will be celebrated at 9:30am in St. Peter's Square.

- Thursday 15: The Solemnity of Corpus Christi. At 7:00pm, Holy Mass in the basilica of Saint John Lateran, procession to the basilica of St. Mary Major and Eucharistic benediction.

- Thursday 29: The Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. Holy Mass will be celebrated at the basilica of St. Peter and will include the imposition of the pallium on metropolitan archbishops.
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HOLY FATHER'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR MAY

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father's general prayer intention for May is: "That the abundance of the gifts the Holy Spirit bestows on the Church may contribute to the growth of peace and justice in the world."

His mission intention is: "That in the mission countries those responsible for the public institutions may, with suitable laws, promote and defend human life from its conception to its natural termination."
POPE PRAYER INTENTIONS/MAY/... VIS 060428 (80)

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

- Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

- Bishop Robert James Carlson of Saginaw (United States of America).

- Cherie Blair.

He is scheduled to receive this afternoon Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
AP/.../... VIS 060428 (80)

NOTE

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2006 (VIS) - As previously announced, Monday, May 1, feast of St. Joseph the Worker and a holiday in the Vatican, there will be no VIS service. Transmission will resume on Tuesday, May 2.
.../.../... VIS 060428 (40)

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News From The Vatican Information Services 04/27/2006

SUMMARY:

- Divine Law Does Not Eliminate Human Freedom
- Papal Message to Congregation for the Causes of Saints
- Agreement Between the Holy See and Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Audiences
- In Memoriam

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DIVINE LAW DOES NOT ELIMINATE HUMAN FREEDOM

VATICAN CITY, APR 27, 2006 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI received members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, who have just celebrated their annual plenary session dedicated to the relationship between the Bible and morality. The session was presided over by Cardinal William Joseph Levada, president of the commission.

The Pope greeted the participants, recalling the fact that he knows them personally, having been president of the same commission. He also highlighted the important theme discussed during the plenary session.

''The primordial impulse of human beings'', he said turning to consider the subject of the plenary, ''is their desire for happiness and a fulfilling life. Nevertheless, there are many today who think that such fulfillment must be attained autonomously, with no reference to God or to His law. Some have even suggested the absolute sovereignty of reason and freedom in the field of moral norms. ... The proponents of this 'moral laicism' affirm that human beings, as rational creatures, not only can but must freely decide the value of their own behavior''.

''This false conviction'', he continued, ''is rooted in a supposed conflict between human freedom and any kind of law." However, "the law of God does not mitigate or eliminate human freedom, on the contrary, it guarantees and promotes it. ... Moral law, established by God at the creation and confirmed in the Revelation of the Old Testament, finds its fullness and greatness in Christ. Jesus Christ is the way of perfection, the living and personal synthesis of perfect freedom in His total obedience to the will of God''.

''In revealing the Father and in His own actions, Jesus also reveals the norms for just human behavior. He explicitly underlines this connection when, at the conclusion of His lessons regarding love for one's enemies, He says 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect'.''

''The path indicated by Jesus through His teachings is not a rule imposed from the outside. He Himself walks this path and asks no more than that we follow Him. ... In the search for a Christologically inspired ethic, it is always necessary to remember that Christ is the Word Incarnate Who renders us participants in His divine life, and with His grace He sustains us on the path towards true fulfillment.''

''The essence of human beings'', concluded the Pope, ''appears definitively in the Word made man," and "this relationship with Christ defines the highest fulfillment of man's moral actions. ... It is not an act dictated solely by external norms, it proceeds from the vital relationship that unites believers to Christ and to God.''
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PAPAL MESSAGE TO CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 27, 2006 (VIS) - Made public today was a Message from Pope Benedict XVI to Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins C.M.F., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which has just concluded its plenary session.

''From her beginnings", says the Message, "the Church has dedicated great attention to the procedures that elevate Servants of God to the glory of the altars. The causes of saints are considered 'major causes' because of their noble and material impact on the lives of the people of God."

The Pope recalled prior interventions by earlier pontiffs who sought to improve the celebration and study of the causes of saints, quoting, among others, Pope John Paul II who in 1983 promulgated the Apostolic Constitution " Divinus Perfectionis Magister" and the "Normae servandae in inquisitionibus ab Episcopis faciendis in Causis Sanctorum."

"The experience of more than 20 years since this text was published has prompted this congregation to publish an 'Instruction for the procedure of diocesan inquiries into the causes of saints,' which is chiefly addressed to diocesan bishops and constitutes the first theme examined by the plenary," says the Holy Father. The instruction "attempts to facilitate the application of the 'Normae servandae' in order to safeguard the seriousness of investigations", into virtues, causes of martyrdom or possible miracles.

"It is clear", writes the Pope "that a cause of beatification or canonization cannot be initiated in the absence of a proven reputation for holiness, even when dealing with people who have been distinguished for their evangelical coherence and for particular ecclesial or social merits."

Going on to refer to the second theme of the plenary session - "the miracle in the causes of saints" - Benedict XVI recalls that "miracles constitute divine confirmation of a judgement expressed by the ecclesial authorities on [a person's] virtuous life. I hope that the plenary will study this subject deeply in the light of the tradition of the Church, of modern theology, and of the most accredited discoveries of science. It should not be forgotten that in examining purportedly miraculous events the competency of scientists and theologians comes together, although the decisive judgement falls to theology which alone is capable of interpreting miracles in the light of the faith. ... It should also be clearly borne in mind that unbroken Church practice establishes the need for a physical miracle, a moral miracle is not enough."

On the third subject, "martyrdom," the Pope writes: "If the motive that impels [people] to martyrdom remains unaltered, having its source and its model in Christ, what have changed are the cultural contexts of martyrdom and the strategies 'ex parte perscutoris' who seek to give ever less explicit prominence to their aversion to the Christian faith, ... but fake different reasons, for example political or social ones. It is of course necessary to find incontrovertible proof of willingness to suffer martyrdom, ... and of the victim's acceptance thereof. But it is equally necessary that, directly or indirectly but always in a morally certain fashion, the 'odium Fidei' of the persecutor should be apparent. If this element is lacking, there is no real martyrdom in accordance with the perennial theological and juridical doctrine of the Church."

Finally, Benedict XVI referred to indications contained in John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution "Divinus Perfectionis Magister" concerning the need to associate bishops with the Holy See in dealing with the causes of saints. On the basis of these indications, Pope Benedict said, "I have implemented the widespread desire that the substantial difference between the celebration of beatification and that of canonization should be more deeply underlined; and that particular Churches should be more visibly involved in the rite of beatification, it being understood that only the Roman Pontiff may concede veneration to a Servant of God."
MESS/CONGREGATION CAUSES OF SAINTS/SARAIVA VIS 060427 (650)

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

VATICAN CITY, APR 27, 2006 (VIS) - On Wednesday, April 19, the first anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, a Basic Agreement between the Holy See and Bosnia-Herzegovina was signed at the presidential palace in Sarajevo. The agreement confirmed a number of principles and defined certain issues regarding questions of common interest.

The Holy See was represented by Archbishop Alessandro D'Errico, apostolic nuncio to Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Bosnia-Herzegovina by Ivo Miro Jovic, Croatian member of the country's collegial presidency.

According to a communique made public today, the Agreement, "bearing in mind the respective independence and autonomy of State and Church and their willingness to collaborate with each other, establishes the juridical framework for their reciprocal relations. In particular, it regulates the juridical position of the Catholic Church in civil society; her freedom and independence in her apostolic activities and in the regulation of her own affairs; and her freedom of worship and of action in the fields of culture, education, pastoral care, charity and the mass media. The text also makes provision for the running of Catholic schools of all levels; spiritual assistance to the armed forces, and in prisons and hospitals; and the organization of Catholic healthcare and charity structures''.

The Agreement, the communique concludes, ''will come into force following the exchange of the instruments of ratification."
OP/TREATY HOLY SEE:BOSNIA/D'ERRICO VIS 060427 (230)

AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, APR 27, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Cardinal Camillo Ruini, His Holiness' vicar general for the diocese of Rome and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

- Cardinal Rosalio Jose Castillo Lara S.D.B., president emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.
AP/.../... VIS 060427 (60)

IN MEMORIAM

VATICAN CITY, APR 27, 2006 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:

- Archbishop Longinus da Cunha of Ende, Indonesia, on April 6, at the age of 60.

- Bishop Charles Joseph Henderson, former auxiliary of Southwark, England, on April 10, at the age of 81.

- Archbishop Pasquale Macchi, prelate emeritus of Loreto, Italy, on April 5, at the age of 82.

- Archbishop Jose Mendez Asensio, emeritus of Granada, Spain, on April 15, at the age of 85.

- Bishop Andre Nguyen Van Nam, emeritus of My Tho, Vietnam, on March 16, at the age of 84.

- Bishop Sebastian Valloppilly, emeritus of Tellicherry of the Syro-Malabars, India, on April 4, at the age of 94.
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