OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 29, 2004 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Jose Horacio Gomez, auxiliary of Denver, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of San Antonio (area 60,013, population 1,959,950, Catholics 644,357, priests 351, permanent deacons 312, religious 1090), U.S.A. The archbishop-elect was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1951 and was ordained a priest in 1978. He succeeds Archbishop Patrick F. Flores whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted upon having reached the age limit.

- Erected the new ecclesiastical province of Galveston-Houston, U.S.A., elevating the see to metropolitan archdiocese and making the following dioceses suffragans: Austin, Beaumont, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Tyler and Victoria in Texas, formerly part of the ecclesiastical province of San Antonio, U.S.A.

- Appointed Bishop Joseph Anthony Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, U.S.A., as first metropolitan archbishop of the same archdiocese (area 23,257, population 4,704,532, Catholics 1,006,425, priests 438, permanent deacons 250, religious 726).

- Elevated Bishop Daniel Nicholas Dinardo, coadjutor of Galveston-Houston, U.S.A., to the dignity of archbishop.

- Erected the diocese of Castanhal, Brazil, with territory taken from the archdiocese of Belem do Para, Brazil and the diocese of Braganca do Para, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan Church of Belem do Para.

- Appointed Bishop Carlos Verzeletti, auxiliary of Belem do Para, Brazil, as first bishop of the diocese of Castanhal (area 14,338, population 688,306, Catholics 405,000, priests 40, religious 136), Brazil.

- Appointed Bishop Jerome E. Listecki, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Chicago, U.S.A., as bishop of La Crosse (area 39,037, population 848,455, Catholics 203,341, priests 212, permanent deacons 25, religious 508), U.S.A.

- Appointed Bishop Pedro Jose Conti of Santissima Conceicao do Araguaia, Brazil, as bishop of Macapa (area 148,000, population 339,000, Catholics 279,000, priests 33, permanent deacons 13,  religious 62), Brazil.

- Appointed Bishop Robert James Carlson of Sioux Falls, U.S.A., as bishop of the diocese of Saginaw (area 18,006, population 724,142, Catholics 139,824, priests 114, permanent deacons 14, religious 138), U.S.A.
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