OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, NOV 22, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father erected the diocese of Ba Ria (area 1,975, population 908,622, Catholics 224,474, priests 191, religious 598), Vietnam, with territory taken from the diocese of Xuan Loc, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Thanh-Pho Ho Chi Minh. He appointed Bishop Thomas Nguyen Van Tram, auxiliary of Xuan Loc, as the first bishop of the new diocese.
ECE:NER/.../VAN TRAM                            VIS 20051122 (80)