OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 16, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Ramon Benito De La Rosa y Carpio of Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia en Higuey, Dominican Republic, as metropolitan archbishop of Santiago de los Caballeros (area 3,691, population 966,000, Catholics 789,000, priests 59, permanent deacons 97, religious 155), Dominican Republic. He accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese presented by Archbishop Juan Antonio Flores Santana upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Michel Hoang Duc Oanh, vicar general of the diocese of Kontum, Vietnam, as bishop of the same diocese (area 25,728, population 1,350,000, Catholics 193,206, priests 32, religious 176). The bishop-elect was born in 1938 in Hay Tay, Vietnam and was ordained a priest in 1968. The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese presented by Bishop Pierre Tran Thanh Chung upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Msgr. Max Davis, vicar general of the military ordinariate for Australia, as bishop military ordinary for the same country. The bishop-elect was born in 1945 in Australia and was ordained a priest in 1971. The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the same military ordinariate presented by Bishop Geoffrey Mayne upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Sergio Arthur Braschi, auxiliary of Curitiba, Brazil, as bishop of Ponta Grossa (area 23,462, population 643,339, Catholics 556,000, priests 112, permanent deacons 8, religious 504), Brazil.

- Appointed Frs. Julian Charles Porteous, rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd in Sydney, Australia, and Anthony Colin Fisher, O.P., founder and director of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family in Melbourne, Australia, as auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese of Sydney (area 1,264, population 1,825,012, Catholics 589,042, priests 447, permanent deacons 4, religious 1,674), Australia. Bishop-elect Porteous was born in 1949 in Sydney and was ordained a priest in 1974. Bishop-elect Fisher was born in 1960 in Sydney and was ordained a priest in 1991.

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