OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 20, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Fr. Felix Lazaro Sh.P., dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and professor of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University in Puerto Rico, as coadjutor of Ponce (area 2,045, population 604,210, Catholics 483,000, priests 116, permanent deacons 71, religious 277), Puerto Rico. The bishop-elect was born in Logrono, Spain in 1936 and ordained a priest in 1961.

- Accepted the resignation as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, presented by Bishop Joao d'Avila Moreira Lima, upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Jozef De Kesel, episcopal vicar of the diocese of Gand, Belgium as auxiliary bishop of Malines-Bruxelles (area 3,700, population 2,514,185, Catholics 1,800,000, priests 2120, permanent deacons 101, religious 4908), Belgium. The bishop-elect was born in Gand, Belgium in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1965.

- Accepted the resignations presented by Auxiliary Bishops Luc De Hovre and Paul Lanneau of the archdiocese of Malines-Bruxelles upon having reached the age limit.

It was made public on March 19, 2002 that the Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Julian Lopez Martin of Cuidad Rodrigo, Spain, as bishop of the diocese of Leon (area 9,620, population 319,104, Catholics 316,504, priests 467, permanent deacons 2, religious 1018), Spain. He also accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese presented by Bishop Antonio Vilaplana Molina, upon having reached the age limit.

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