OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, APR 3, 2006 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Msgr. Raphael Dabire Kusiele, episcopal vicar for social and pastoral projects of the diocese of Diebougou, Burkina Faso, as bishop of the same diocese (area 18,346, population 752,412, Catholics 109,834, priests 124, religious 78). The bishop-elect was born in Dissin, Burkina Faso in 1948 and ordained a priest in 1975. He succeeds Bishop Jean-Baptiste Some, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese, the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

  The Synod of Bishops of the Coptic Catholic Church, meeting in Cairo, Egypt from March 27 to 30, 2006 accepted - in accordance with canon 126 para. 2 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, and having consulted the Supreme Pontiff - the resignation from office of His Beatitude Stephanos II Ghattas, C.M., patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts. On March 30, the same Synod, elected Bishop Antonios Naguib, emeritus of Minya of the Copts, Egypt as the new patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts. The patriarch-elect was born in Samalout, Egypt in 1935, and ordained a priest in 1960.

  On Saturday, April 1, it was made public that the Holy Father:

 - Appointed Fr. Darwin Rudy Andino Ramirez C.R.S., pastor of the parish of St. John the Baptist in Tegucigalpa and provincial councilor of the Somascan Fathers, as auxiliary of the archdiocese of Tegucigalpa (area 15,167, population 1,695,285, Catholics 1,240,648, priests 153, religious 524), Honduras. The bishop-elect was born in Tegucigalpa in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1990.

 - Appointed Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo, apostolic nuncio to New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Tonga, Vanuatu, and apostolic delegate to the Pacific Ocean, as apostolic nuncio to Samoa.

 - Appointed Msgr. Francisco Montecillo Padilla, counsellor at the apostolic nunciature to Australia, as apostolic nuncio to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in Cebu City, Philippines, in 1953 and ordained a priest in 1976.

 - Appointed Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, as his special envoy to celebrations due to be held in Singapore from June 21 to 23 marking the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between that country and the Holy See.
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