OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 11, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Created the new ecclesiastical circumscription of Gandhinagar (area 30,588, population 7,270,466, Catholics 14,000, priests 41, religious 76), India, with territory taken from the diocese of Ahmedabad, elevating it at the same time to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese. The new ecclesiastical province, divided from the ecclesiastical province of Bombay, will include the suffragan dioceses of Ahmedabad, Baroda and Rajkot of the Syro-Malabars. The Holy Father transferred Bishop Stanislaus Fernandes, S.J. of the diocese of Ahmedabad, to the new metropolitan see of Gandhinagar.

- Appointed Fr. Thomas Ignatius Macwan, episcopal vicar for the district of Anand-Kheda, as bishop of Ahmedabad (area 15,282, population 8,292,709, Catholics 62,000, priests 141, religious 342), India. The bishop-elect was born in Bhavnagar, India in 1952 and was ordained a priest in 1988.

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Masan, Korea, presented by Bishop Michael Pak Jeong-il, upon having reached the age limit. Coadjutor Bishop Francis Xavier Ahn Myong-ok succeeds him.

It was made public on Saturday November 9 that the Holy Father appointed:

- Bishop Emmanuel Bushu of Yagoua, Cameroon and Bishop Boniface Choi Ki-san of Inch'on, Korea as members of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

- Lieutenant Colonel Elmar Theodor Mader, vice commander of the Swiss Guard, as captain commander.

NA; NER; RE;...;...;...;VIS;20021111;Word: 220;