OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 28, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Bishop Mogale Paul Nkhumishe of Witbank, South Africa, as bishop of Pietersburg (area 69,533, population 1,062,000, Catholics 124,900, priests 24, permanent deacons 9, religious 93), South Africa. He succeeds Bishop Fulgence Werner Le Roy O.S.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having received the age limit.

On Saturday, February 26, it was made public that he:

- Appointed Father Patrick Harrington S.M.A., former superior general of the Society of African Missions and presently professor at the Consolata Missionaries' philosophical institute in Nairobi, Kenya, as bishop of Lodwar (area 70,000, population 250,000, Catholics 23,000, priests 28, religious 48), Kenya. The bishop-elect was born in Kimeague, Ireland, in 1939 and ordained a priest in 1964. He succeeds Bishop John Christopher Mahon S.P.S., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese, the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Elevated the apostolic prefecture of Tierradentro, Colombia, to the rank of apostolic vicariate, with the same name and territorial configuration. The Holy Father appointed Fr. Jorge Garcia Isaza C.M., apostolic prefect of the same ecclesiastical circumscription, as first apostolic vicar of Tierradentro. The bishop-elect was born at Manizales, Colombia, in 1928 and ordained a priest in 1954.

- Appointed Fr. Evarist Pinto, pastor of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Karachi (area 180,000, population 10,000,000, Catholics 140,197, priests 58, religious 236), Pakistan, as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect was born at Goa, India, in 1933 and ordained a priest in 1968.

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