OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 9, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Wilton Daniel Gregory of Belleville, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Atlanta (area 55,521, population 5,752,854, Catholics 367,472, priests 237, permanent deacons 50, religious 179), U.S.A. The archbishop-elect was born in Chicago, U.S.A., in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1973. He succeeds Archbishop John Francis Donoghue whose resignation the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Msgr. Michael J. Bransfield, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., as bishop of Wheeling-Charleston (area 62,866, population 1,801,916, Catholics 83,325, priests 170, permanent deacons 32, religious 334), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in 1943 in Philadelphia, U.S.A. and was ordained a priest in 1971. He succeeds Bishop Bernard William Schmidt whose resignation the Holy Father accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Appointed Fr. Demetrio Fernandez Gonzalez, parish priest in the archdiocese of Toledo, Spain, as bishop of Tarazona (area 4,514, population 80,582, Catholics 78,208, priests 74, religious 215), Spain. The bishop-elect was born in 1950 in Puente, Spain and was ordained a priest in 1974.
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