OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Msgr. Bernard Barsi, vicar general of Nice, as archbishop of the Principality of Monaco (area 2, population 30,000, Catholics 27,000, priests 20, permanent deacons 1, religious 26). The archbishop-elect was born in Nice in 1942 and ordained a priest in 1969, He succeeds Archbishop Joseph-Marie Sardou T.D., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Erected the diocese of Nouna (area 15,000, population 400,000, Catholics 40,000, priests 23, religious 24), Burkina Faso, with territory taken from the diocese of Nouna-Dedougou, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan Church of Ouagadougou. At the same time, the diocese of Nouna-Dedougou is renamed Dedougou. He appointed Fr. Joseph Sama, vicar general of the cathedral of Nouna-Dedougou, as first bishop of the diocese of Nouna. The bishop-elect was born in Dedougou in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1975.

- Appointed Angelo Scelzo as under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

- Appointed Bishop Marcel Perrier, auxiliary of Chambery, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne et Tarentaise, France, as bishop of Pamiers (area 4,903, population 138,000, Catholics 100,000, priests 68, permanent deacons 6, religious 105), France.

- Appointed Fr. Dominique Rey of the clergy of Paris, pastor of the parish of the Holy Trinity, as bishop of Frejus-Toulon (area 6,023, population 880,000, Catholics 700,000, priests 396, permanent deacons 13, religious 620), France. The bishop-elect was born in Saint-Etienne, France, in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1984. He succeeds Bishop Joseph Madec whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

NER; RE; ECE; NA;...;...;...;VIS;20000516;Word: 260;