OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 26, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Basilio do Nascimento, apostolic administrator "Sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of Baucau, East Timor, as apostolic administrator of Dili (area 7,767, population 539,811, Catholics 504,299, priests 64, religious 342), East Timor. Bishop do Nascimento retains the office of apostolic administrator of Baucau. He succeeds Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, S.D.B., whose resignation from the same office the Holy Father accepted in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Fr. Joseph Vu Van Thien, professor of theology at the Major Seminary in Hanoi, Vietnam, as bishop of the diocese of Hai Phong (area 10,000, population 4,600,000, Catholics 120,000, priests 23, religious 23), Vietnam. The bishop-elect was born in 1960 in Ke Sat, Vietnam and was ordained a priest in 1988.

- Appointed Fr. Stephanus Tri Buu Thien, professor of moral theology at the Major Seminary of Can Tho, Vietnam, as coadjutor bishop of the same diocese (area 13,257, population 4,798,1522, Catholics 161,564, priests 137, religious 377). The bishop-elect was born in Tra Long, Tan Long, Soc Trang, Vietnam in 1950 and was ordained a priest in 1987.

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