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VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming visit to the White House to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush does not signal Vatican support of the Bush administration’s foreign policies, a Vatican official said.

WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Richard E. Pates of St. Paul and Minneapolis to head the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, and Father Anthony B. Taylor, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, as bishop of Little Rock, Ark., April 10.

Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore, has named Dr. Karyl Leggio as dean of its Sellinger School of Business and Management and Dr. Peter C. Murrell Jr. as founding dean of the School of Education effective July 1.

Archbishop Valerian Okeke of Onitsha, Nigeria, will celebrate a special 12th anniversary Mass for the Nigerian Igbo Catholic Community of Baltimore on April 27 at St. Matthew, Northwood. The Mass will be followed by a reception beginning at 5 p.m.

The Bon Secours Spiritual Center, Marriottsville, will hold its 40th anniversary celebration 2-4 p.m. April 20 at 1505 Marriottsville Road. Tours of newly renovated areas of the spiritual center, including hospitality centers and bedrooms, will be available from 1-2 p.m. and again following a talk by Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B. Participants may register for an optional $6 lunch. For more information, call 410-442-1320 or visit the Web site www.bonsecoursspiritualcenter.org.

The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia minister in 24 states, Europe and Africa, and now they’re on the Web as well.

BANGALORE, India – With Sri Lankan forces closing in on the Marian shrine of Madhu in northwestern Sri Lanka, Bishop Rayappu Joseph of Mannar, Sri Lanka, has appealed to government forces and the Tamil rebels to leave the area around the shrine a “zone of peace.”

A funeral Mass was offered March 25 at St. Peter the Apostle in Philadelphia for Father William J. Harbison, C.Ss.R. Father Harbison died March 20. He was 72.

Thirty-two teams descended upon the Loyola Blakefield, Towson, campus March 29 for the second annual outdoor track and field Loyola Spring Invitational.