Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Pope appoints 3 African bishops to refugee pastoral Council

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed five new members, three of them African archbishops, to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples.

They are Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako, Archbishop of Khartoum (Sudan), His Beatitude Antonios Naguib, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts (Egypt) and Archbishop Paul Ruzoka of Tabora (Tanzania).

The other members are Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris (France) and Bishop Paul Hinder O.F.M. Cap., apostolic vicar of Arabia, (United Arab Emirates).

In June, the council held pan-African congress in Nairobi, Kenya, attended by bishops and other pastoral agents working with refugees and migrants from some 20 nations.

The theme of the congress was, ‘Towards better pastoral care for migrants and refugees in Africa at the dawn of the Third Millennium.’

Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples was established on March 19, 1970 by Pope Paul VI, with the task of studying and providing pastoral care to “people on the move.”

It focuses on migrants, exiles, refugees, displaced people, fishermen and seafarers, air travellers, road transport workers, nomads, circus people, fairground workers, pilgrims and tourists, as well as other categories of people who, for various reasons, are involved in human mobility.
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