OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 14, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Erected the new diocese of Velez (area 4,957.60, population 190,000, Catholics 171,000, priests 39, religious 51), Colombia, with territory taken from the diocese of Socorro y San Gil, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan Church of Bucaramanga.

- Appointed Fr. Luis Albeiro Cortes Rendon, rector of the Major Seminary of Pereira, Colombia, as the first bishop of Velez, Colombia. The bishop-elect was born in 1952 in Quimbaya, Colombia and was ordained a priest in 1978.

- Appointed Bishop Decio Zandonade, S.D.B., auxiliary of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, as bishop of Colatina (area 12,362, population 483,938, Catholics 387,312, priests 30, religious 76), Brazil.

- Appointed Fr. Daniel Bohan, episcopal vicar for the English-speaking faithful of the archdiocese of Moncton, Canada, as auxiliary bishop of Toronto (area 13,000, population 4,147,680, Catholics 1,420,395, priests 862, permanent deacons 129, religious 1,340), Canada. The bishop-elect was born in 1941 in Yarmouth, Canada and was ordained a priest in 1967.

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