The Pope And Church News: News Vatican Information Service March 25, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

News Vatican Information Service March 25, 2014

SUMMARY:

- PRESENTATION OF THE NEXT WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

- ARCHBISHOP BREGANTINI, AUTHOR OF THE TEXTS OF THE VIA CRUCIS

- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

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PRESENTATION OF THE NEXT WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

Vatican City, 25 March 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family and Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. of Philadelphia, U.S.A., presented the eighth World Meeting of Families, which will take place from 22 to 27 September 2015 in Philadelphia, U.S.A.

The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family explained that the meeting will occur at very important moment in the life of the Church, as Pope Francis has focused attention on the theme of the family, to which he dedicated this February's Consistory, and which will be the theme of the next Synod in October. Other examples are last year's Family Pilgrimage of the Year of Faith on 26 and 27 October 2013, the 11th plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Holy Father's encounter with engaged couples on 14 February 2014, and the Pope's Letter to Families, a series of events and initiatives that coincide with the United Nations' convocation of the Year of the Family.

“The Philadelphia meeting aims first to gather the Churches of the America, and it is encouraging participation by all the diverse cultures, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, that people this vast continent”, continued the prelate. “There is no doubt that the presence on the Chair of Peter of the first Latin American Pope makes the event even more meaningful. … The starting point and the guide for this journey are given to us by Pope Francis: 'the beauty of the family and of marriage, the grandeur of a reality both simple and profound, a combination of joy, hope, burdens and suffering, just like the rest of life. We will seek to deepen our understanding of the theology of the family and of the pastoral care that we must exercise in today's world. … Our task is to show the world God's shining plan for families, to help married couples live out that plan with joy, and to be there for them with a shepherd's care that is wise, brave and full of love”.

“This is what we will do as we look towards the meeting in Philadelphia: we will be there for all the families of the world with a shepherd's care that is 'wise, brave and full of love'. Wisdom in understanding what families face today, bravery in taking on today's many and complex problems, and love in helping to resolve those problems in the light of the Gospel of the family and of life. We will deal with many issues in our wise, brave and loving work together: theology of the family, married spirituality and holiness, ecclesiology and pastoral care for families, the family in contemporary culture, immigration and the family, and the family and ecumenism. These are some of the routes and areas of common work that we will pursue with wisdom, bravery and love”.

“We would also hope that the meeting in Philadelphia sees a broad and active presence from the other Christian Churches and communities, as well as from representatives of the world's other great religions, together with other men and women who, though not religious, are committed to bringing peace and goodwill to our world. May our coming together for the family encourage all peoples to remember that we are one family of humankind and that it is together as a family that we must walk the path to true happiness”, he concluded.

ARCHBISHOP BREGANTINI, AUTHOR OF THE TEXTS OF THE VIA CRUCIS

Vatican City, 25 March 2014 (VIS) – According to a communique issued by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father has invited Archbishop Giancarlo Maria Bregantini C.S.S., of Campobasso-Boiano, Italy, to prepare the texts of the meditations for the stations of the Via Crucis on Good Friday at the Colosseum. They will follow the traditional pattern of the fourteen stations.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 25 March 2014 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

- appointed Fr. Aurelio Pesoa Ribera, O.F.M. and Fr. Jorge Angel Saldias Pedraza, O. P., as auxiliaries of the archdiocese of La Paz (area 10, 975, population 1,031,525, Catholics 825,220, priests 161, permanent deacons 1, religious 472), Bolivia.

Fr. Pesoa Ribera was born in Concepcion, Bolivia in 1962, gave his solemn vows in 1988, and was ordained a priest in 1989. He holds a bachelor's degree in theology from the “San Pablo” Bolivian Catholic University, and a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the “Antonianum” Pontifical Athenaeum, Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral roles in the Franciscan province of “San Antonio” in Bolivia, including master of philosophy and theology for the temporal professed and vicar of the San Francisco fraternity in Cochabamba; lecturer in ecclesiology and theological anthropology in the “San Pablo” Bolivian Catholic University; provincial definitor; guardian and master of temporal professed for the two year philosophy course at Santa Cruz de la Sierra; president of the ecclesiastical tribunal of first instance in the archdiocese of Santa Cruz de la Sierra; and provincial vicar of the “San Antonio” parish. He is currently provincial minister of the “San Antonio” missionary province.

Fr. Saldias Pedraza was born in Buena Vista-La Arboleda, Bolivia in 1968 and was ordained a priest in 2001. He holds a licentiate in theology from the Higher Institute of Theological Studies in Cochabamba. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including priest and rector of the archdiocesan shrine of “Nuestra Senora de Cotoca”; member of the presbyteral council of the archdiocese of Santa Cruz; provincial vicar of the Domenican vice-province of Bolivia, and rector of the chapel of “Santa Catalina” in the “Virgen del Socavon” parish of Cochabamba. He is currently priest and rector of the Community of the archdiocesan shrine of “Nuestra Senora de Cotoca”, priest of the parish of “Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria”, Paurito, episcopal vicar of the vicariate of Cotoca, and judge of the metropolitan ecclesiastical tribunal of the archdiocese of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

- appointed Msgr. Marek Zalewski, nunciature advisor, as apostolic nuncio in Zimbabwe, elevating him at the same time to the dignity of archbishop. Msgr. Zalewski was born in Augustow, Poland in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1989. He has a degree in canon law, and has served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1995, in the Pontifical Representations in the Central African Republic, at the United Nations in New York, Great Britain, Germany, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.