OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 4, 2000 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Bishop Brendan Michael O'Brien of Pembroke, Canada, as metropolitan archbishop of Saint John's, Newfoundland (area 16,641, population 208,056, Catholics 115,857, priests 56, religious 283), Canada. The archbishop-elect was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1943, ordained a priest in 1968 and consecrated a bishop in 1987. He succeeds Archbishop James Hector MacDonald C.S.C., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

On Saturday, December 2, it was made public that he:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Bombay, India, presented by Auxiliary Bishop Ferdinand Joseph Fonseca upon having reached the age limit.

- Erected the ecclesiastical province of Catania, Italy, elevating the archdiocese of Catania to the status of metropolitan church and assigning it as suffragans the dioceses of Acireale, up until now 'immediate subjecta Sanctae Sedi,' and of Caltagirone. He appointed Archbishop Luigi Bommarito of Catania as metropolitan archbishop of the new ecclesiastical province.

- Erected the ecclesiastical province of Agrigento, Italy, elevating the diocese of Agrigento to the status of archdiocese and metropolitan church and assigning it as suffragans the dioceses of Caltanissetta and Piazza Armerina. He appointed Bishop Carmelo Ferraro of Agrigento as metropolitan archbishop of the new ecclesiastical province.

- Assigned the archdiocese of Monreale, Italy, up until now a metropolitan church, as a suffragan of the ecclesiastical province of Palermo.

- Appointed Fr. John S. Pazak C.Ss.R., pastor of the parish of St. Joseph in Winnipeg, Canada, as bishop of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Toronto of the Slovaks of Byzantine Rite (Catholics 20,000, priests 8, religious 3), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in Gary, U.S.A., in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1972.

- Appointed Fr. Teodoro Enrique Pino Miranda, pastor of the cathedral in the archdiocese of Hermosillo, Mexico, as bishop of Huajuapan de Leon (area 26,000, population 613,000, Catholics 608,000, priests 100, religious 150), Mexico. The bishop-elect was born in Cucurpe, Mexico in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1972.

NER; RE; ECE;...VIS 20001204 (330);...;