The delegation of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue will
meet with the academic community of the Catholic University of Western Africa
(UCAO) in Abidjan Cocody.
 In Yamoussoukro, Cardinal Tauran will meet with members of the Episcopal
Conference of Cote d'Ivoire and will preside at Mass concelebrated in the
Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.
 The visit will offer the opportunity to promote and encourage interreligious
dialogue in Cote d'Ivoire, in a context of respect and friendship, in
accordance with the teaching of Pope Francis. With this objective, various
meetings are scheduled with leaders of other religious traditions, especially
of Islam and traditional African religions, first in Korhogo, and subsequently
in Yamoussoukro and Abidjan.
 On 17 March, Cardinal Tauran will pay a private visit to the president of the
Republic, Alessane Ouattara.

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 The Holy See reaffirms its opposition to the death penalty
 Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Holy See
Permanent Observer at the United Nations and other international organisations
in Geneva gave an address at the 28th Session of the Human Rights Council on 4
March, regarding the issue of the death penalty.
 Speaking in English, the nuncio said, "The Delegation of the Holy See ...
joins an increasing number of States in supporting the fifth U.N. General
Assembly resolution calling for a global moratorium on the use of the death
penalty. Public opinion in support of the various provisions aimed at
abolishing the death penalty, or suspending its application, is growing. This
provides a strong momentum which this delegation hopes will encourage States
still applying the death penalty to move in the direction of its abolition".
 The archbishop explained that twenty years ago, during the papacy of St. John
Paul II, the position of the Holy See was "framed within the proper ethical
context of defending the inviolable dignity of the human person and the role
of the legitimate authority to defend in a just manner the common good of
society". He continued, "Considering the practical circumstances found in most
States, as a result of steady improvements in the organisation of the penal
system, it appears evident nowadays that means other than the death penalty
are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect
public order and the safety of persons. For that reason, public authority must
limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete
conditions of the common good and are more in conformity with the dignity of
the human person".
 Benedict XVI affirmed in 2011 that "the political and legislative initiatives
promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty and
to continue the substantive progress made in conforming penal law both to the
human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order are
moving in the right direction. Pope Francis has further emphasised that the
legislative and judicial practice of the State authority must always be guided
by the primacy of human life and the dignity of the human person", noting also
"the possibility of judicial error and the use made by totalitarian and
dictatorial regimes ... as a means of suppressing political dissidence or of
persecuting religious and cultural minorities".
 "Respect for the dignity of every human person and the common good are the
two pillars on which the position of the Holy See has developed. These
principles converge with a similar development in international human rights
law and jurisprudence. Moreover, we should take into account that no clear
positive effect of deterrence results from the application of the death
penalty and that the irreversibility of this punishment does not allow for
eventual corrections in the case of wrongful convictions".
 Therefore, the Holy See "contends that bloodless means of defending the
common good and upholding justice are possible, and calls on States to adapt
their penal system to demonstrate their adhesion to a more humane form of
punishment. As for those countries that claim it is not yet feasible to
relinquish this practice, my delegation encourages them to strive to become
capable of doing so".
 In conclusion, the Holy See delegation "fully supports the efforts to abolish
the use of the death penalty. In order to arrive at this desired goal, these
steps need to be taken: sustaining the social reforms that would enable
society to implement the abolition of the death penalty and improving prison
conditions, to ensure respect for the human dignity of people deprived of
their freedom".

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 Audiences
 Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in
audience:
 - Archbishop Girolamo Prigione, apostolic nuncio;
 - Archbishop Andres Carrascosa Coso, apostolic nuncio in Panama;
 - Fourteen prelates of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, on their
"ad Limina" visit:
 - Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon of Suwon, with his auxiliary, Bishop Linus Lee
Seong-hyo;
 - Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon of Uijeongbu, with Bishop emeritus Joseph Lee
Han-taek;
 - Bishop Jacobus Kim Ji-Seok of Wonju;
 - Archbishop Thaddeus Cho Hwan-kil of Daegu;
 - Bishop John Chrisostom Kwon Hyeok-ju of Andong;
 - Bishop Paul Hwang Chul-soo of Busan, with his auxiliary, Bishop Joseph Son
Sam-seok;
 - Bishop Gabriel Chang Bong-hun of Cheongnju;
 - Bishop Francis Xavier Ahn Myong-ok of Masan, with Bishop emeritus Michael
Pak Jeon-il;
 - Bishop Francis Xavier Yu Soo-il, military ordinary; and
 - Bishop Wenceslao S. Padilla, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
 - appointed Rev. Fr. John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., as bishop of Lexington (area
42,520, population 1,601,000, Catholics 47,900, priests 64, permanent deacons
71, religious 89), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Amherst, Ohio, U.S.A.
in 1966, gave his solemn vows in 1992, and was ordained a priest in 1995. He
has served in a number of pastoral roles, including deputy priest,
administrator and parish priest of the "Our Lady of Mount Carmel" parish in El
Paso, Texas; vicar general of the diocese of El Paso; administrator of the
"Our Lady of the Valley" parish; and chancellor of the diocese of El Paso. He
is currently provincial vicar of the "Our Lady of Consolation" Franciscan
Conventual Province and rector of the Basilica and national shrine of "Our
Lady of Consolation", Carey, Ohio.
 - appointed Bishop Thomas Anthony Daly, auxiliary of San Jose in California,
U.S.A., as bishop of Spokane (area 63,325, population 325,161, Catholics
107,271, priests 146, permanent deacons 43, religious 230), U.S.A.
 - given his assent to the canonical election by the Synod of the Ukrainian
Greek-Catholic Church of Rev. Fr. Teodor (Taras) Martynyuk, M.S.U., as
auxiliary of the archieparchy of Ternopil'-Zboriv (area 8,346, population
636,000, Catholics 385,000, priests 320, permanent deacons 1, religious 128),
Ukraine. The bishop-elect was born in Yaremche, Ukraine in 1974, gave his
solemn vows in 1997 and was ordained a priest in 2000. He holds a doctorate in
Oriental canon law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute. During his pastoral
ministry he has served in various roles in the Lavra of Univ and the monastery
of St. Michael in Lviv, and as a lecturer in Oriental canon law at the
Pontifical Oriental Institute of Rome. He is currently Igumen of the Lavra of
the Dormition in Univ, Ukraine.

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 Notice
 Vatican City, 12 March 2015 (VIS) - We wish to inform our readers that
tomorrow, 13 March, the second anniversary of the election to the papacy of
the Holy Father Francis, the Vatican Information Service bulletin will not be
transmitted. The service will resume on Monday, 16 March.

___________________________________________________________

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