POPE TO CONSECRATE TWELVE NEW BISHOPS TOMORROW

VATICAN CITY, JAN 5, 2000 (VIS) - Tomorrow, John Paul II will consecrate twelve new bishops, thus bringing to 290 the number of episcopal ordinations conferred by him in the course of his pontificate.

The numerical record for ordinations fell in the year after his election as Pope when, on May 27, 1979, John Paul II ordained 26 bishops in a single ceremony.

On two occasions the Pope has celebrated episcopal ordinations outside the Vatican: Once in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where, on May 4, 1980, he consecrated eight bishops and once in Albania where, on April 25, 1993, four bishops were consecrated.

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