OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 17, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Fr. Gerald Isaac Lobo, episcopal vicar of the diocese of Mangalore, India, and pastor of the parish of St. Monica at Kumbla, as bishop of Shimoga (area 21,405, population 4,247,881, Catholics 25,405, priests 37, religious 157), India. The bishop-elect was born at Agrar, India, in 1949 and ordained a priest in 1977.

On Saturday, January 15, it was made public that he:

- Appointed as consultors of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims, which is part of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue: Frs. Matthew Kukah, Nigeria; James Channan O.P., Pakistan; Jean-Marie Gaudeul M. Afr., France. Also, Vincenzo Buonomo, Italy, and Yussef Kamal El-Hage, Lebanon.

- Appointed His Beatitude Jean Pierre XVIII Kasparian, patriarch emeritus of Cilicia of the Armenians, as member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
- Appointed as consultors of the Congregation for Bishops: Frs. Domingo Javier Andres Gutierrez C.M.F., president of the "Utriusque Iuris" Institute of the Pontifical Lateran University; Gianfranco Ghirlanda S.J., dean of the faculty of canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University; Edward Kaczynski O.P., rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas; Donato Valentini S.D.B., lecturer in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Salesian University.

- Appointed as consultors of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers: Msgr. Sergio Pintor of the archdiocese of Oristano, Italy, director of the Italian Episcopal Conference's national office for pastoral assistance in the field of health care; Fr. Ernesto Scirpoli of the diocese of Biella, Italy. Also, Fernando S. Antezana Aranibar, former assistant director general of the World Health Organization, Bolivia and Maurizio Scelli, secretary general of UNITALSI, Italy.

- Gave his blessing to the election, canonically carried out by the Synod of Bishops of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church, meeting at Roboueh, Lebanon, on January 14, 2000, of Fr. Joseph Kallas S.M.S.P., as archbishop of Beirut and Gibail of the Greek-Melkites (Catholics 200,000, priests 70, religious 313), Lebanon. The archbishop-elect was born at Fiki, Lebanon, in 1931 and ordained a priest in 1958.

- Gave his blessing to the election canonically carried out by the Synod of Bishops of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church, meeting at Roboueh, Lebanon, on January 14, 2000, of Fr. Nicholas Sawaf, of the clergy of Aleppo of the Greek-Melkites, Syria, as archbishop of Lattaquie of the Greek Melkites (Catholics 10,000, priests 18, religious 24), Syria. The archbishop-elect was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1943 and ordained a priest in 1968.

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