OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 17, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Joao Maria Messi O.S.M., of Irece, Brazil, as bishop of Barra do Pirai-Volta Redonda (area 4,768, population 827,986, Catholics 620,989, priests 38, permanent deacons 2, religious 121), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Waldyr Calheiros de Novaes, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Jose Ubiratan Lopes O.F.M. Cap., pastor of 'Nossa Senhora Aparecida' parish in the diocese of Petropolis, Brazil, as bishop of Itaguai (area 2,549, population 279,000, Catholics 189,200, priests 24, permanent deacons 1, religious 66), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Itambacuri, Brazil, in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1975.

- Appointed Fr. Donald Joseph Leo Pelletier M.S., diocesan administrator of Morondava (area 46,000, population 350,000, Catholics 35,000, priests 22, religious 56), Madagascar, as bishop of the same ecclesiastical circumscription. The bishop-elect was born in Attleboro, U.S.A., in 1931 and ordained a priest in 1956.

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