News from the Holy See
Christus Rex Information Service
15 March 1996
A.N.S.A. - Friday, 15 March 1996
VATICAN: POPE BETTER, BUT NEEDS REST
(ANSA) - Vatican City, March 15 - Pope John Paul II is
better, but will still need ''a couple of days of rest'' to
recover from what has been diagnosed as a fever of ''digestive''
origin, the Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls said today.
The pope's general audience on Wednesday was cancelled, and
Navarro said his fever could have been caused by 'flu aggravated
by a chill caught when visiting a Roman parish church last
Sunday.
The spokesman said purely medical considerations would
decide whether the Catholic leader would participate in a
beatification ceremony on Sunday or make his planned pastoral
journey to Siena on Tuesday.
Vatican officials said the beatification ceremony was a
minor problem since, by tradition, the pope need not be
physically present, but simply has to sign the relevant decree.
Navarro reported that the journey to Siena could be
postponed for a few days. He also told reporters that the pope
is eating more lightly than usual.
Asked about the diagnosis, Navarro would say nothing more
than that it concerns the digestive apparatus, but he ruled out
any medical concern.
A.N.S.A. - Friday, 15 March 1996
VATICAN: NO DECISION ON THE VISIT TO SIENA
(ANSA) - Vatican, March 15 - In Siena, Archbishop Gaetano
Bonicelli said a decision on the papal visit would be taken
tomorrow. ''If he can't come, we'll see if it can be moved to
March 24,'' he said.
Preparations for the pope include what is believed will be
the first real-time coverage of a papal visit with photos and
text on Internet, at http://www.vol.it/PROMOSTUDIO/Visita Papa.
V.I.S. - Friday, 15 March 1996
STATEMENT BY HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE DIRECTOR
VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 1996 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin
Navarro-Valls, gave the following statement this afternoon about the Holy
Father's health:
"The feverish symptoms of a digestive nature that appeared the night between
March 12-13, are progressively improving and, as said before, still advise
observing some days' rest".
Responding to some journalists' questions, Navarro-Valls said that tomorrow
a decision will be taken regarding the Pope's appointments next Sunday. Like
he did yesterday, John Paul II got up this morning to celebrate Holy Mass.
V.I.S. - Friday, 15 March 1996
TELEGRAM ON KILLING OF SCOTTISH CHILDREN AND TEACHER
VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 1996 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano,
sent the following telegram of condolence, on behalf of the Holy Father, to Bishop
Vincent Logan of Dunkeld, Scotland:
"Profoundly saddened by news of the killing in Dunblane of sixteen children
and their teacher and the wounding of many others, the Holy Father offers
fervent prayers for the families and friends of the victims and for all
mourning their loss. He invokes God's consolations upon all those suffering as
a result of this senseless violence and he sends his Blessing".
V.I.S. - Friday, 15 March 1996
ECUMENICAL WAY IS THE WAY OF THE CHURCH
VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 1996 (VIS) - Speaking yesterday evening to members of the
Circolo di Roma on the theme "the Encyclical 'Ut unum Sint', an Urgent Appeal
for the Unity of Christians", Cardinal Edward Cassidy, President of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, says that "in this latest
Encyclical - his twelfth - the Pope declares that the ecumenical way is the way
of the Church."
"In the second chapter of the Encyclical, His Holiness points out that the
Church's irreversible commitment to Ecumenism has already produced many and
encouraging fruits...Progress has been made in various fields of common
activity; there has been a growth of affective and effective communion.
Substantial progress has been made also in the various theological dialogues."
Cardinal Cassidy goes on to say that in Chapter III "Pope John Paul reflects
on the road that must still be travelled 'until...full unity in faith will be
attained'...and he identifies the areas in need of fuller study before such a
consensus of faith can be achieved".
V.I.S. - Friday, 15 March 1996
NOMINATIONS, RESIGNATION AND ERECTION OF DIOCESE
VATICAN CITY, MAR 15, 1996 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Nominated Bishop Francisco Javier Martinez Fernandez, auxiliary of Madrid,
as bishop of Cordoba (area 13,717, population 761,324, Catholics 752,000,
priests 373, religious 1,285), Spain. Bishop Martinez was born in Madrid in
1947, was ordained a priest in 1972 and a bishop in 1985. He succeeds Bishop
Jose Antonio Infantes Florido, whose resignation was accepted by the Pope on
having reached the age limit.
- Erected the diocese of Nebbi (area 5,037, population 387,800, Catholics
291,353, priests 35, religious 48), Uganda, with territory taken from the
diocese of Arua, making it a suffragan of the Metropolitan Church of Kampala.
He nominated as the first bishop of the new diocese Fr. John Baptist Odama of
the diocesan clergy of Arua. The bishop-elect was born in Riki-Oluku, Uganda,
in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1974. Since 1990 he has been rector of the
National Philosophy Seminary of Alokolum.
- Nominated Fr. Eugene Cooney as bishop of Nelson (area 124,272, population
328,000, Catholics 63,700, priests 43, religious 54), Canada. The bishop-elect
was born in Medecine Hat, Canada, in 1931 and was ordained a priest in 1960.
Since 1990 he has been pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Calgary.
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