OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 9, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Marcelo Angiolo Melani S.D.B., of Viedma, Argentina, as bishop of Neuquen (area 94,078, population 540,384, Catholics 486,046, priests 54, permanent deacons 7, religious 125), Argentina.

- Erected the diocese of Tanjung Selor (area 96,630, population 756,250, Catholics 25,384, priests 16, religious 14), Indonesia with territory taken from the diocese of Samarinda, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Pontianak. He appointed Fr. Justinus Harjosusanto M.S.F., former provincial in Java of the Missionaries of the Holy Family, as first bishop of the new diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Muntilan, Indonesia, in 1953 and ordained a priest in 1982.

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