OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 21, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Sakania-Kipushi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, presented by Bishop Elie Amsini Kisawaya in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Bishop Jean-Pierre Ricard of Montpellier, France, as metropolitan archbishop of Bordeaux (area 10,000, population 1,283,000, Catholics 962,000, priests 341, permanent deacons 12, religious 693), France. The archbishop-elect was born in Marseille, France, in 1944, ordained a priest in 1968 and consecrated a bishop in 1993.

- Appointed Ismar de Oliveira Soares, president of the International Catholic Union of the Press, UCIP, as a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

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