OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 13, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Appointed Fr. Gianfranco Todisco, P.O.C.R., parish priest of the Marian Shrine of Montalto Uffugo in Cosenza, Italy, as bishop of Melfi-Rapolla-Venosa (area 1,316, population 91,000, Catholics 90,000, priests 51, permanent deacons 11, religious 108), Italy. The bishop-elect was born in Naples, Italy in 1946 and was ordained a priest in 1970. He succeeds Bishop Vincenzo Cozzi whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Msgr. Ronald William Gainer, judicial vicar of the diocese of Lexington, U.S.A., as bishop of the same diocese (area 42,520, population 1,436,583, Catholics 47,583, priests 68, permanent deacons 33, religious 164). The bishop-elect was born in Pottsville, U.S.A., in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1973.

- Appointed Msgr. Ignatius Wang, chancellor of the archdiocese of San Francisco, U.S.A. as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese (area 2,620, population 1,760,000, Catholics 422,500, priests 384, permanent deacons 72, religious 1,072). The bishop-elect was born in 1934 in Beijing, China and was ordained a priest in 1959.

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Boston, U.S.A. presented by Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- He appointed Bishop Richard Gerard Lennon, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Boston, U.S.A. as apostolic administrator.

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