OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 6, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Fr. Ottavio Vitale R.C.I., diocesan administrator of Lezhe (area 750, population 63,500, Catholics 58,420, priests 9, religious 26), Albania, as apostolic administrator of the same diocese.
- Fr. Prele Gjurashaj O.F.M., provincial vicar of the Franciscan Order at Scutari, Albania, as apostolic administrator of Pult (area 140, population 46,247, Catholics 30,810, priests 4, religious 10), Albania.

- Fr. Cristoforo Palmieri C.N., diocesan administrator of Rreshen (area 3,463, population 259,000, Catholics 70,000, priests 8, religious 16), Albania, as apostolic administrator of the same diocese.

- Fr. Dode Gjergji of the diocesan clergy of Skopje, Albania, and pastor of Kallmet, as apostolic administrator of Sape (area 2,544, population 177,000, Catholics 159,000, priests 6, religious 22), Albania.

On Saturday, March 4, it was made public that he:

- Appointed Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia of the clergy of Rome, pastor of St. Mary in Trastevere and ecclesial assistant to the community of St. Egidio, as bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia (area 871, population 162,000, Catholics 160,000, priests 137, permanent deacons 12, religious 209), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Boville Ernica, Italy, in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1970. He succeeds Bishop Franco Gualdrini, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments, as his special envoy to the Mexican National Eucharistic Congress, due to take place in Mexico City from May 5 to 7.

- Appointed Archbishop Santos Abril y Castello, apostolic nuncio in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as apostolic nuncio in Argentina.

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