OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 25, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Antonio R. Tobias of San Fernando de La Union, Philippines, as bishop of the diocese of Novaliches (area 138, population 1,658,872, Catholics 1,492,984, priests 121, religious 127), Philippines. He succeeds Bishop Teodoro C. Bacani whose resignation he accepted from the pastoral care of the same diocese in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Fr. Michael Miller, C.S.B., president of St. Thomas University in Houston, U.S.A., as secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, elevating him at the same time to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1946 and was ordained a priest in 1975. The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the office of the same congregation presented by Archbishop Giuseppe Pittau upon having reached the age limit.

- Erected the eparchy of Emdeber Ethiopia, with territory taken from the metropolitan archeparchy of Addis Ababa, making it a suffragen of the same ecclesiastical circumscription.

- Appointed Fr. Musie Ghebreghiorgis, O.F.M. Cap., rector of the Philosophical and Theological Institute of Capuchin Fathers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as bishop of Emdeber (area 9,176, Catholics 18,476, priests 22, religious 12), Ethiopia. The bishop-elect was born in 1949 in Eritrea, and was ordained a priest in 1976.

- Appointed Fr. Hector Vargas Bastidas, S.D.B., provincial vicar of the Salesians in Chile, as bishop of Arica (area 16,521, population 197,856, Catholics 149.378, priests 24, religious 28), Chile. The bishop-elect was born in Valdivia, Chile in 1951 and was ordained a priest in 1978.

- Appointed Bishop Thomas James Olmsted of Wichita, U.S.A., as bishop of Phoenix (area 113,831, population 3,651,780, Catholics 478,163, priests 304, permanent deacons 203, religious 338,), U.S.A.

- Appointed Archbishop Erwin Josef Ender, apostolic nuncio in the Czech Republic, as apostolic nuncio in Germany.

- Appointed Fr. Josef Clemens, undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Laity, elevating him to the dignity of bishop. The bishop-elect was born in 1947 in Siegen, Germany and was ordained a priest in 1975.

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