OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 8, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Vital Masse, auxiliary of St. Jerome, as bishop of Mont-Laurier (area 19,968, population 86,969, Catholics 77,980, priests 56, religious 130), Canada. He succeeds Bishop Jean Gratton, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with the age limit.

- Accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Andrea Veggio, from the pastoral care of the diocese of Verona, Italy, in accordance with the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Joseph Luc Andre Bouchard, of the clergy of the diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, rector of the St. Joseph Seminary in Edmonton, as bishop of Saint Paul (area 155,916, population 129,375, Catholics 43,075, priests 27, permanent deacons 1, religious 22), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in 1948, in Cornwall, Canada, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1976.

- Appointed Bishop Dante Lafranconi of Savona-Noli, as bishop of Cremona (area 1,917, population 318,000, Catholics 313,500, priests 377, permanent deacons 12, religious 833), Italy.

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