OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 5, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Erected the ecclesiastical province of Nassau (area 13,872, population 303,833, Catholics 68,237, priests 30) Bahamas, elevating the diocese of the same name to the status of metropolitan church, assigning to it as suffragan the diocese of Hamilton-in-Bermuda and aggregating to it the "sub iuris" mission of the Turks and Caicos Islands. He appointed Bishop Lawrence A. Burke S.J. as first metropolitan archbishop of Nassau.

- Appointed Bishop Mario Oliveri of Albenga-Imperia, Italy as member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments.

- Appointed Fr. Petr Esterka, coordinator of Catholic Missions for Czechs in U.S.A., Canada and Australia, as auxiliary of Brno (area 10,597, population 1,400,000, Catholics 750,000, priests 377, permanent deacons 28, religious 611), Czech Republic. The bishop-elect was born in Dolni Bojanovice in 1935 and was ordained a priest in 1963.

- Appointed Archbishop Carlo Curis, apostolic nuncio, as consultor to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

On Saturday, July 3, it was made public that the Holy Father:
- Appointed Archbishop Francesco Cacucci of Otranto, Italy, as archbishop of Bari-Bitonto (area 1,264, population 680,000, Catholics 650,000, priests 427, permanent deacons 38, religious 1,148), Italy. He succeeds Archbishop Andrea Mariano Magrassi O.S.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted in conformity with Code 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Bishop Tarcisio Pillolla, auxiliary of Cagliari, Italy, as bishop of Iglesias (area 1,678, population 145,000, Catholics 144,000, priests 89, permanent deacons 1, religious 110), Italy.

- Appointed Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, as his special envoy to the commemorative celebrations for the second centenary of the death of Pope Pio VI, planned to take place in Valence, France, August 29, 1999.

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