VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXVI - # 12
DATE 20-01-2016

Summary:
- General audience: together, let us take mercy to every part of the world
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 General audience: together, let us take mercy to every part of the world
 Vatican City, 20 January 2016 (VIS) - In this morning's general audience, held
in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father dedicated his catechesis to the Week of
Prayer for Christian unity, taking place this year from 18 to 25 January, on
the
theme "Called to proclaim the mighty acts of the Lord". "The first letter of
St.
Paul is addressed to the first generation of Christians to make them aware of
the gift received in Baptism, and the demands that this involves", said the
Pope. "We too, in this Week of Prayer, are invited to rediscover all this, and
to do so together, overcoming our divisions. Sharing Baptism means that we are
all sinners and that we all need to be saved, redeemed, liberated from evil".
 "When we as Christians decide to share one Baptism, we affirm that we all -
Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox - share the experience of being called from
the unforgiving and alienating darkness, towards the encounter with the living
God, full of mercy. We all, unfortunately, experience selfishness, which
generates division, closed-mindedness, contempt. Starting over from Baptism
means rediscovering the source of mercy, the source of hope for all, because
no-one is excluded from God's mercy".
 "Sharing this grace creates an indissoluble bond between the Baptised: by
virtue of our Baptism we can consider ourselves brothers", he continued. "We
are
truly the holy people of God, even though, as a result of our sins, we are not
yet a fully united people. God's mercy, that works in Baptism, is stronger than
our divisions. To the extent that we welcome the grace of mercy, we become ever
more fully the people of God, and we also become capable of proclaiming all His
wonderful works, starting from a simple and fraternal witness of unity".
 "By the grace of Baptism", he concluded, "we have obtained God's mercy and we
have been welcomed into His people. We all - Catholics, Orthodox and
Protestants
- form a royal priesthood and a holy nation. This means that we have a common
mission, which is that of transmitting the mercy we have received to others,
starting from the poorest and the abandoned". Pope Francis concluded by urging
all disciples of Christ to "find a way to collaborate together to take the
mercy
of the Father to every part of the world".

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 Audiences
 Vatican City, 20 January 2016 (VIS) - The Holy Father received in audience:
 - A Muslim delegation, presenting an official invitation to the Holy Father to
attend the Great Mosque in Rome;
 - Bishops from Sudan and South Sudan, attending a meeting organised by the
Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
 Yesterday he received in audience Bishop Cesar Daniel Fernandez of Jujuy,
Argentina.

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 20 January 2016 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
 - appointed Bishop Canisio Klaus of Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil, as bishop of
Sinop (area 191,000, population 650,000, Catholics 534,000, priests 52,
permanent deacons 2, religious 69), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Gentil Delazari,
whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the
age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.
 - erected the Maronite apostolic exarchate of Bogota, Colombia.
 - appointed Fr. Fadi Abou Chebel, O.M.M., as the first apostolic exarch of the
new exarchate of Bogota, Colombia. The bishop-elect was born in Deir al Qamar,
Lebanon in 1969, took his solemn vows in 1994 and was ordained a priest in
1995.
He holds a licentiate in pastoral theology and has served in a number of
pastoral and administrative roles, including deputy priest, spiritual assistant
for young seminarians, general director of the Notre Dame college of Louaize,
university chaplain and general director of university pastoral ministry in
Lebanon.

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