OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 28, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis, auxiliary of Brasilia, Brazil, as metropolitan archbishop of Aparecida (area 1,300, population 220,000, Catholics 198,000, priests 94, permanent deacons 2, religious 301), Brazil. The archbishop-elect was born in Capela Nova, Brazil in 1937 and was ordained a priest in 1968. He succeeds Cardinal Aloisio Lorscheider, O.F.M., whose resignation from the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Bishop Walmor Oliveira de Azevedo, auxiliary of Sao Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, as metropolitan archbishop of Belo Horizonte (area 7,420, population 4,325,642, Catholics 3,244,231, priests 548, religious 2,303), Brazil. The archbishop-elect was born in 1954 and was ordained a priest in 1977. He succeeds Cardinal Serafim Fernandes de Araujo whose resignation from the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Archbishop Joao Braz de Aviz of Maringa, Brazil, as metropolitan archbishop of Brasilia (area 5,814, population 2,043,169, Catholics 1,573,240, priests 209, permanent deacons 22, religious 668), Brazil. He succeeds Cardinal Jose Freire Falcao whose resignation from the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.
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