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* Crossposted in: IN_CATHOLIC.

VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE

TWENTIETH YEAR - N. 231
ENGLISH
WEDNESDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2010

SUMMARY:

- Catherine of Bologna: Spiritual Weapons against Evil
- Special Envoy to Closing of Jubilee Year of Vietnam Church
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

___________________________________________________________

CATHERINE OF BOLOGNA: SPIRITUAL WEAPONS AGAINST EVIL

VATICAN CITY, 29 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis
during today's general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of
8,000 people, to St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463).

  Born to a noble family in the Italian city of Bologna, at the age of ten
she moved to Ferrara where she entered the court of Niccolo III d'Este as a
maid of honour. There she received a very careful education which would
later serve her during her monastic life when "she used the cultural and
artistic knowledge acquired over those years to great advantage", the Pope
said.

  In 1427, at the age of fourteen, she left the court to dedicate herself to
religious life in a community of young women. Two years later the leader of
this group founded an Augustinian convent, but Catherine and a number of
others preferred Franciscan spirituality and transformed the community into
Poor Clares.

  The saint "made great spiritual progress in this new phase of her life,
though she also had to face great trails", the Pope explained. "She
experienced the night of the spirit, tormented even by the temptation of
disbelief in the Eucharist. After much suffering, the Lord consoled her. In
a vision He gave her the clear awareness of the real Eucharistic presence".
In another vision God revealed the forgiveness of her sins, giving Catherine
a "powerful experience of divine mercy".

  In 1431 the saint had yet another vision, this time of the Final
Judgement, which led her "to intensify her prayers and penance for the
salvation of sinners. Satan continued to assail her as she increasingly
entrusted herself to the Lord and the Virgin Mary. In her writings,
Catherine left us essential notes on this mysterious struggle, from which,
by the grace of God, she emerged victorious".

  These notes are contained in her one written work, the "Treatise on the
Seven Spiritual Weapons" in which Catherine teaches that to combat evil it
is necessary: "(1) to be careful always to do good; (2) to believe that we
can never achieve anything truly good by ourselves; (3) to trust in God and,
for His love, never to fear the battle against evil, either in the world or
in ourselves; (4) to meditate frequently on the events and words of Jesus'
life, especially His passion and death; (5) to remember that we must die;
(6) to keep the benefits of heaven firmly in our minds, (7) to be familiar
with Holy Scripture, keeping it in our hearts to guide all our thoughts and
actions".

  "In her convent Catherine, though used to the court of Ferrara, ...
performed even the most humble tasks with love and ready obedience", said
the Holy Father, recalling also that, out of obedience, the saint "accepted
the job of mistress of novices, although she felt she was incapable of
carrying out the role". In the same spirit she agreed to move to Bologna as
abbess of a new monastery though she would have preferred to end her days in
Ferrara.

  Catherine died on 9 March 1463 and was canonised by Pope Clement XI in
1712. "With her words and life", Benedict XVI concluded, "she strongly
invites us always to allow ourselves to be guided by God, to do His will
every day even if it does not always correspond to our own plans, and to
trust in His Providence which never abandons us. In this perspective, St.
Catherine also invites us to rediscover the value of the virtue of
obedience".
AG/                                                                     VIS
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SPECIAL ENVOY TO CLOSING OF JUBILEE YEAR OF VIETNAM CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, 29 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Made public yesterday afternoon was a
Letter from the Pope, written in Latin and dated 21 December, in which he
appoints Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of t
he Congregation for the
Evangelisation of Peoples, as his special envoy to the closing celebrations
of the Jubilee Year of the Church in Vietnam, called to mark the 350th
anniversary of the creation of the first two apostolic vicariates in the
country, and the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic
hierarchy. The celebrations are due to take place at the Marian shrine of
LaVang from 4 to 6 January 2011.

  The cardinal will be accompanied by Fr. Antoine Duong Quynh, chancellor of
the archdiocese of Hue, Vietnam, and rector of the cathedral of Phu Cam in
Hue; and by Fr. Francois Xavier Vu Phan Long O.F.M., secretary of the
biblical commission of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam.
BXVI-LETTER/                                                    VIS 20101229
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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, 29 DEC 2010 (VIS) - Following today's general audience, the
Holy Father received Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, apostolic nuncio to
India and to Nepal.
AP/                                                                     VIS
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 29 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

 - As members of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum": Cardinal Peter Kodwo
Appiah Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace;
Archbishop Douglas Young S.V.D. of Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea; Msgr.
Manfred Ertl, currently consultor of the same dicastery; Laurence de la
Brosse, president of the "Association Internationale des Charites"; Fr.
Simon T. Faddoul, president of Caritas Lebanon; Michael Thio Yauw Beng,
president of the "Societe de Saint Vincent de Paul   Conseil General
International"; Roberto H. Tarazona Ponte, "Asistente de la Oficina de
Asesoria Pastoral de Caritas" in Peru; Henrietta T. de Villa, currently
consultor of the same dicastery, and Carlos Augusto de Oliveira Camargo,
currently consultor of the same dicastery.

 - As consultors of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum": Fr. Paolo Asolan,
professor at the "Redemptor Hominis" Pontifical Institute of Rome's
Pontifical Lateran University; Fr. Silverio Nieto Nunez, director of the
"Servicio Juridico Civil" of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, and Paolo
Luca Beccegato, head of the international unit of Caritas Italy.

 - As members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Cardinal
Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints,
and Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity.

 - As members of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches: His Beatitude
Cardinal Antonios Naguib, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt;
Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, archpriest of the papal basilica of St. Paul's
Outside-the-Walls, and Cardinal Kurt Koch.

 - As members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of
the Sacraments: Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, archbishop of Warsaw, Poland;
Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, archbishop of Colombo, Sri
Lanka; Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B.; Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, prefect of
the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura; Cardinal Mauro Piacenza,
prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and Cardinal Velasio De Paolis
C.S., president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See.

 - As members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: Cardinal
Francesco Monterisi; Cardinal Fortunato Baldelli, penitentiary major of the
Apostolic Penitentiary; Cardinal Paolo Sardi, vice chamberlain of Holy Roman
Church and patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

 - As a member of the Congregation for Bishops: Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke.

 - As members of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples:
Cardinal Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, archbishop emeritus of Lusaka, Zambia;
Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, and Cardinal Robert Sarah,
president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum".

 - As members of the Congregation for the Clergy: Cardinal Donald William
Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, U.S.A., and Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz.

 - As a member of the Cong
regation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life: Cardinal Paolo Sardi.

 - As a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education: Cardinal Mauro
Piacenza.

 - As a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura: Cardinal
Velasio De Paolis C.S.

 - As members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity: Cardinal Paolo Romeo
of Palermo, Italy; Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Cardinal Paolo Sardi.

 - As members of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity:
Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, and Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B.

 - As a member of the presidential committee of the Pontifical Council for
the Family: Cardinal Raul Eduardo Vela Chiriboga, archbishop emeritus Quito,
Ecuador.

 - As members of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Cardinal
Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of
Congo; Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany,
and Cardinal Robert Sarah.

 - As a member of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum": Cardinal
Medardo Joseph
Mazombwe.

 - As a member of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants
and Itinerant Peoples: His Beatitude Cardinal Antonios Naguib.

 - As members of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts: Cardinal
Raymond Leo Burke, and Cardinal Velasio De Paolis C.S.

 - As members of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue:
Cardinal Kurt Koch, and Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the
Pontifical Council for Culture, of the Pontifical Commission for the
Cultural Patrimony of the Church, and of the Pontifical Commission for
Sacred Archaeology.

 - As members of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications: Cardinal
Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparecida, Brazil, and Cardinal
Mauro Piacenza.

 - As a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation:
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi.

 - As a counsellor of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America: Cardinal
Francesco Monterisi.

 - As members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America: Cardinal Raul
Eduardo Vela Chiriboga; Cardinal Paolo Romeo, and Cardinal Raymundo
Damasceno Assis.

 - Msgr. Marcello Bartolucci, under secretary of the Congregation for the
Causes of Saints, as secretary of the same congregation, at the same time
elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in
Bastia Umbra, Italy in 1944 and ordained a priest in 1968.

 - Fr. Boguslaw Turek C.S.M.A., bureau chief of the Congregation for the
Causes of Saints, as under secretary of the same congregation.

 - Msgr. Celso Morga Iruzubieta of the clergy of the diocese of Calahorra y
La Calzada - Logrono, Spain, under secretary of the Congregation for the
Clergy, as secretary of the same congregation, at the same time elevating
him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in 1948 and
ordained a priest in 1972.

 - Msgr. Serge Poitras of the clergy of the diocese of Chicoutimi, Canada,
official of the Congregation for Bishops, as adjunct under secretary of the
same congregation.
NA/                                                                     VIS
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 - Origin: VIS - Ufficio Stampa della Santa Sede (1:396/3) 
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