As the Vatican curial offices return from a month-long vacation, the VIS just sent its first news transmission since July.
In an ocean of other updates were the following news items (most of which have already been made available to the press):
August 4: Declaration by Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls concerning the admittance to Rome's Gemelli hospital of Pope Benedict XVI's brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, with heart problems.
August 24: Appointment of Archbishop William Joseph Levada, emeritus of San Francisco, U.S.A., and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as member of the Congregation for Bishops.
August 24: Appointment of Fr. Michael A. Blume S.V.D., under-secretary at the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, as apostolic nuncio to Benin and Togo, at the same time elevated to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in South Bend, U.S.A., in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1972.
August 29: Declaration by Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls concerning the audience granted by the Pope to Msgr. Bernard Fellay, superior general of the "Fraternity of St. Pius X." The audience was granted at Msgr. Fellay's request.
