OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

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

- Appointed Bishop Wojciech Ziemba of Elk as metropolitan archbishop of Bialystok (area 5,550, population 456,925, Catholics 377,911, priests 330, religious 201), Poland. The bishop-elect was born in Wampierzow, Poland, in 1941, ordained a priest in 1967 and consecrated a bishop in 1982. He succeeds Archbishop Stanislaw Szymecki, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Edward Samsel, auxiliary of Elk (area 11,000, population 446,550, Catholics 423,050, priests 289, religious 192), Poland, as bishop of the same diocese.

- Appointed Fr. Adam Szal, rector of the major seminary of Przemysl of the Latins (area 9,750, poulation 820,000, Catholics 817,976, priests 967, religious 1,381), Poland, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect was born in Lancut, Poland, in 1953 and ordained a priest in 1979.

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Wroclaw, Poland, presented by Auxiliary Bishop Jozef Pazdur, upon having reached the age limit.

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