OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 18, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Meru, Kenya, presented by Bishop Silas Silvius Njiru upon having reached the age limit. Coadjutor Bishop Salesius Mugambi succeeds him.

- Erected the ecclesiastic province of Raipur (area 135,242, population 19,057,921, Catholics 367,028, priests 608, religious 1,933), India, with territory taken from the ecclesiastic province of Bhopal, assigning Ambikapur, Jagdalpur of the Siro-Malabars and Raigarh as its suffragan dioceses.

- Appointed Fr. Joseph Kallarangatt, president of the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Religious Studies Paurastya Vidyapitahm, as bishop of the eparchy of Palai of the Siro-Malabars (area 1,166, population 683,482, Catholics 345,982, priests 481, religious 4,266), India. The bishop-elect was born in 1956 in Kayyoor, India and was ordained a priest in 1982. He succeeds Joseph Pallikaparampil whose resignation from the pastoral care of the eparchy the Holy Father accepted in accordance with Canon 210, para. 2, of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

- Appointed Jose Porunnedom, of the clergy of Mananthavady, India and chancellor of the Major Siro-Malabar Archbishopric Curia of Ernakulam-Angamaly, as bishop of the eparchy of Mananthavady of the Siro-Malabars (area 48,250, population 10,000,000, Catholics 165,653, priests 266, religious 1,610). The bishop-elect was born in 1956 in Anchiri, India, and was ordained a priest in 1982.

- Appointed Msgr. Andrews Thazhath, president of the Association of Eastern Canon Law in India, as auxiliary bishop of Trichur of the Siro-Malabars (area 2,000, population 2,510,965, Catholics 456,759, priests 380, religious 2,984), India. The bishop-elect was born in 1951 in Pudukad, India and was ordained a priest in 1977.
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