OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 19 JUN 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Bishop Filippo Iannone O. Carm., auxiliary of the archdiocese of Naples, Italy, as bishop of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo (area 1,426, population 152,700, Catholics 150,230, priests 96, permanent deacons 18, religious 176), Italy. He succeeds Bishop Luca Brandolini C.M., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Fr. Pierre-Marie Gaschy C.S.Sp., superior of the community of Fameck in the diocese of Metz, France, as apostolic vicar of Iles Saint-Pierre et Miquelon (area 245,000, population 6,125, Catholics 6,076, priests 2, religious 7), France. The bishop-elect was born in Colmar, France in 1941 and ordained a priest in 1969. He succeeds Bishop Lucien Fischer C.S.Sp., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same apostolic vicariate the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Fr. Joseph Pibul Visitnondachai of the clergy of Bangkok, Thailand, secretary general for social pastoral ministries of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Thailand, as bishop of Nakhon Sawan (area 93,547, population 8,327,053, Catholics 16,000, priests 34, religious 53), Thailand. The bishop-elect was born in Bang Buathong, Thailand in 1946 and ordained a priest in 1974.

- Appointed Fr. Stephen Tjephe of the clergy of Loikaw, Myanmar, pastor of the church of St. Matthew at Daugneku, as auxiliary of Loikaw (area 11,670, population 309,820, Catholics 75,485, priests 79, religious 195). The bishop-elect was born in Danoku, Myanmar in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1984.

 - Appointed Msgr. Maurizio Malvestiti, bureau chief of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, as under secretary of the same congregation.

 - Appointed as substitute promoters of justice of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura: Fr. Nikolaus Schoch O.F.M., substitute defender of the bond at the same tribunal, and Fr. Markus Graulich S.D.B., vice dean and professor of the faculty of canon law of Rome's Pontifical Salesian University.
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