OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 11, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Archbishop Franc Rode, archbishop of Ljubljana, Slovenia, as prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. He accepted the resignation from the same position presented by Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo in accordance with Canon 354 of the Code of Canon Law.

- Accepted the resignation from the position of secretary general of the Synod of Bishops presented by Cardinal Jan Pieter Schotte, C.I.C.M., in accordance with Canon 354 of the Code of Canon Law. The Pope appointed Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, apostolic nuncio in Ukraine to succeed him.

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Thomas L. Dupre in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

- Appointed Fr. Luis Felipe Sanchez Aponte, vicar general of the diocese of Chiquinquira, Colombia and director of the Diocesan Institute of Pastoral Ministry, as bishop of the same diocese (area 4,019, population 310,000, Catholics 309,000, priests 83, religious 180). The bishop-elect was born in Samaca, Colombia in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1973.

- Appointed Fr. Antonio Ortega Franco, C.O., moderator of the Secretariat for the Laity and pastor in the archdiocese of Mexico, Mexico, as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese (area 1,479, population 7,738,307, Catholics 6,999,402, priests 1,333, permanent deacons 81, religious 6,387). The bishop-elect was born in Empalme Escobedo, Mexico in 1941 and was ordained a priest in 1968.

- Appointed Dr. Patricio Ventura-Junca Tobar, professor of pediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and director of the Center for Bioethics at the same university, as ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
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