OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 28, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Bishop Edgar de Jesus Garcia Gil, auxiliary of Cali, Colombia, as bishop of Montelibano (area 11,000, population 273,000, Catholics 206,700, priests 31, religious 51), Colombia.

It was made public on October 26 that the Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Antigonish, Canada, presented by Bishop Colin Campbell, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Fr. Donald Lapointe, moderator of the parish of St. Thomas in Compton, Canada, as auxiliary of Saint-Jerome (area 2,156, population 420,576, Catholics 390,576, priests 182, permanent deacons 18, religious 455), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in 1936 in Disraeli, Canada and was ordained a priest 1964.

- Appointed Msgr. Robert Harris, episcopal vicar for the Anglophone sector of the archdiocese of Montreal, Canada, as auxiliary of the Sault Sainte Marie (area 196,603, population 392,315, Catholics 218,850, priests 117, permanent deacons 109, religious 247), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in 1944 in Montreal and was ordained a priest in 1969.

- Appointed Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, as his special envoy to the celebrations of the Third National Eucharistic Congress which will take place in Dassa-Zoume, Benin from November 22 to 24, 2002.

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