OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 12, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Caracas, Venezuela, presented by Bishop Roberto Antonio Davila Uzcategui, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Erected the new diocese of Buxar (area 11,311, population 5,781,132, Catholics 15,745, priests 22, religious 72), India, with territory taken from the archdiocese of Patna, making it a suffragan of the same metropolitan see. He appointed Fr. William D'Souza S.J., provincial superior of the Jesuit Fathers, as the first bishop of the new diocese. The bishop-elect was born in Madanthar, India in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1976.

  On Saturday, December 10, it was made public that the Holy Father appointed:

 - Fr. Martin Tetsuo Hiraga, diocesan administrator, as bishop of Sendai (area 45,951, population 7,332,000, Catholics 10,987, priests 50, religious 289), Japan. The bishop-elect was born in Hanamaki, Japan in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1974.

 - Msgr. Jose Guadalupe Torres Campos, vicar general of the diocese of Irapuato, Mexico, as auxiliary of Ciudad Juarez (area 29,639, population 2,500,000, Catholics 2,125,000, priests 118, permanent deacons 14, religious 216), Mexico. The bishop-elect was born in Leon in 1960 and ordained a priest in 1984.

 - Msgr. Juan Frausto Pallares, episcopal vicar of Leon, Mexico, as auxiliary of the same diocese (area 8,016, population 3,795,967, Catholics 3,416,000, priests 388, religious 1,496). The bishop-elect was born in Tomelopez, Mexico in 1941 and ordained a priest in 1968.

 - Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and East Timor, as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
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