NEWS IN BRIEF

Hanoi visit
POPE John Paul met in private audience with Vietnamese Cardinal Joseph-Marie Trinh Van-Can of Hanoi. Accurate public information on the Vietnamese church is scarce. The last official statistics given by the Holy See were published in 1963.
Bishop of Rome
MGR PIETRO Rossano, 59, former secretary of the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Christians, has been named an auxiliary bishop of Rome and rector of the Lateran University.
Rome mosque
A MOSQUE is to be constructed on Rome's Monte Antenne, the first in the city, at the expense of an unnamed Arab state, after building permission was granted by the city council.
Latvian bishop
A NEW Catholic suffragan bishop in Latvia has been appointed for the dioceses of Riga and Liepaja. He is 56-yearold Mgr Janis Cakula, who is now obviously intended as successor to 87-year-old Archbishop Julijans Vaivods.
Ski safety
POPE JOHN Paul met last week with 30 board members of the International Ski Federation and backed their efforts to promote a safet3, code whereby skiers "would not endanger either their own lives or those of others."
The 62-year-old pontiff told the officials of his own active interest in skiing during his prepapal days in Poland.
Papal breakfast
PARIS MAYOR Jacques Chirac attended an early morning Mass and had breakfast at the Vatican this week with Pope John Paul Vatican sources said.
Chirac and his wife arrived at the Vatican shortly after dawn following a flight from Paris and attended Mass with the Pope in John Paul's private chapel, the sources said.
Art theft
UNKNOWN thieves have stolen seven XVII century religious canvasses from Paris SaintMerri church, police reported on Tuesday.
The works, valued at 250,000 francs, included two paintings by Noel-Nicholas Coypel and a large painting of St Boromeo by Charles-Antoine Van Loo, police said.