OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 28, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Eurico dos Santos Veloso of Luz as metropolitan archbishop of Juiz de Fora (area 10,737, population 650,414, Catholics 520,300, priests 118, permanent deacons 1, religious 289), Brazil. The archbishop-elect was born in Sanandira, in 1933, and ordained to the priesthood in 1962. He succeeds Archbishop Clovis Frainer, O.F.M.Cap., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted by the Holy Father, in conformity with canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Bishop Laurindo Guizzardi, C.S., of Bage, as bishop of Foz do Iguacu (area 7,062, population 408,000, Catholics 368,000, priests 34, religious 117), Brazil. He succeeds Bishop Olivio Aurelio Fazza, S.V.D., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Philip Huang Chao-Ming, auxiliary of Kaohsiung, as bishop of Hwalien (area 8,144, population 603,487, Catholics 55,454, priests 48, religious 115), Taiwan. He succeeds Bishop Andrew Tsien Chih-ch'un, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with the age limit.

- Erected the diocese of Nnewi (area 662, population 614,822, Catholics 312,360, priests 77), Nigeria, with territory taken from the archdiocese of Onitsha, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan church. He appointed Fr. Hilary Paul O. Okeke, vicar general of the archdiocese of Onitsha, as the first bishop of Nnewi. The bishop-elect was born in Utuh, in 1947, and ordained to the priesthood in 1974.

- Appointed Bishop Joseph Mokobe Ndjoku of Bokungu-Ikela, as bishop of Basankusu (area 70,000, population 420,000, Catholics 170,485, priests 42, religious 43), Democratic Republic of the Congo.

- Appointed Fr. Valerian Okeke, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria, rector of the Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu, as coadjutor archbishop of Onitsha (area 2,968, population 1,558,714, Catholics 1,114,199, priests 298, religious 300). The archbishop-elect was born in Umudioka, in 1953, and ordained to the priesthood in 1981.

- Appointed as auxiliaries of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo (area 1,645, population 8,899,790, Catholics 6,674,842, priests 871, permanent deacons 1, religious 3,446), Brazil: Msgr. Odilo Pedro Scherer, of the clergy of the diocese of Toledo, official of the Congregation for Bishops; Msgr. Benedito Beni dos Santos, vicar general of the diocese of Taubate; Fr. Jose Benedito Simao, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Sao Paulo, director of the faculty of Theology "Nossa Senhora da Assuncao." Bishop-elect Scherer was born in Sao Francisco, in 1949, and ordained to the priesthood in 1976. Bishop-elect Beni dos Santos was born in Lagoinha, in 1937, and ordained to the priesthood in 1962.

- Appointed Msgr. Tamas Szabo, director of the chancellery of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference, as military ordinary in Hungary. The bishop-elect was born in Zirc, in 1956, and ordained to the priesthood in 1988. He succeeds Bishop Gaspar Ladosci, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same military ordinariate the Holy Father accepted, in conformity with canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Bishop Gaspar Ladosci as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest (area 1,543, population 2,094,000, Catholics 1,258,000, priests 388, permanent deacons 14, religious 1,009), Hungary.

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