News Vatican Information Service 07/21/2011

SUMMARY:

- Statistics for the Catholic Church in Spain
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STATISTICS FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SPAIN

VATICAN CITY, 29 OCT 2010 (VIS) - For the occasion of Benedict XVI's apostolic trip to the Spanish capital Madrid to preside at twenty-sixth World Youth Day, statistics have been published concerning the Catholic Church in that country. The information, updated to 31 December 2010, comes from the Central Statistical Office of the Church. The Pope's journey is due to take place from 18 to 21 August.

Spain has a surface area of 505,992 square kilometres and a population of 46,073,000 of whom 42,470,000 (92.2 percent) are Catholic. There are 70 ecclesiastical circumscriptions and 22,890 parishes. Currently there are 126 bishops, 24,778 priests, 54,184 religious, 2,826 lay members of secular institutes and 99,581 catechists. Minor seminarians number 1,258 and major seminarians 1,866.

A total of 1,461,899 students attend 5,535 centres of Catholic education, from kindergartens to universities. Other institutions belonging to the Church or run by priests or religious in Spain include 77 hospitals, 54 clinics, 1 leper colony, 803 homes for the elderly or disabled, 391 orphanages and nurseries, 293 family counselling centres and other pro-life centres, 3,323 centres for education and social rehabilitation, and 632 institutions of other kinds.

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News Vatican Information Service 07/19/2011

SUMMARY:

- Aid for the People of the Horn of Africa
- Other Pontifical Acts

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AID FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE HORN OF AFRICA

VATICAN CITY, 19 JUL 2011 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" today released the following communique:

  "As the Holy Father Benedict XVI recalled in an appeal he made following the Angelus on Sunday 17 July, the famine caused by a drought in the Horn of Africa is provoking a critical humanitarian emergency. Around ten million people are suffering, and hundreds of thousands of refugees risk dying because of a lack of basic necessities. Somalia and northern Kenya are the worst struck areas.

  "As a sign of his closeness and concern the Pope has, via the Pontifical Council 'Cor Unum', sent the sum of euro 50,000 to Bishop Giorgio Bertin O.F.M., apostolic administrator of Mogadishu, who is directly involved in bringing assistance to the people affected".
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 19 JUL 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as a counsellor of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

 - Appointed as members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America: Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, archbishop emeritus of Santiago de Chile, Chile; Cardinal Julio Terrazas Sandoval C.SS.R., archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia; Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga S.D.B., archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, archbishop of Lima, Peru, and Cardinal Hummes O.F.M., prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy.

 - Appointed Joseph F. X. Zahra, a member of the governing council of the "Centesimus Annus-Pro Pontefice" Foundation, as international reviser of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See.

 - Appointed as members of the Academic Council of the Holy See's Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Universities and Ecclesiastical Faculties (AVEPRO): Fr. Gabino Uribarri Bilbao S.J., dean of the faculty of theology at the Pontifical University of "Comillias" in Madrid, Spain; Pascal Mueller-Jourdan, professor of theology at the faculty of theology in the "Universtie Catholique de l'Ouest", Angers, France, and Sigrid Muller, vice dean of the "Katholisch-Theologische Fakultat" at the University of Vienna, Austria.

 - Appointed Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. Cap. of Denver, U.S.A., as archbishop of Philadelphia (area 5,652, population 3,892,194, Catholics 1,464,938, priests 988, permanent deacons 234, religious 3,244), U.S.A. He succeeds Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Fr. Gregory John Hartmayer O.F.M. Conv., pastor of the parish of St. John Vianney at Lithia Springs in the archdiocese of Atlanta, U.S.A., as bishop of Savannah (area 95,928, population 2,904,000, Catholics 84,500, priests 104, permanent deacons 56, religious 114), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Buffalo, U.S.A. in 1951 and ordained a priest in 1979. He succeeds Bishop John Kevin Boland, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
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You can find more information at: www.visnews.org

The news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used, in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:
V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.
Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City