VATICAN CITY, 26 FEB 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Erected the new ecclesiastical province of Toamasina, Madagascar, raising the current diocese of Toamasina to the status of metropolitan church and assigning it the suffragan dioceses of Ambatondrazaka, Moramanga and Fenoarivo-Atsinana. He appointed Bishop Desire Tsarahazana of Toamasina as the first metropolitan archbishop of Toamasina. The archbishop-elect was born in Amboangibe, Madagascar in 1954, he was ordained a priest in 1986 and consecrated a bishop in 2001.
- Appointed Fr. Marie Fabien Raharilamboniaina O.C.D. superior general of the Carmelite Fathers for Madagascar and the Indian Ocean, as bishop of Morondava (area 46,620, population 490,000, Catholics 43,640, priests 34, religious 113), Madagascar. The bishop-elect was born in Ambohijanahary, Madagascar in 1968 and ordained a priest in 1997. He succeeds Bishop Donald Pelletier M.S., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
- Appointed Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon, military ordinary for Korea, as bishop of Uijongbu (area 2,626, population 2,615,839, Catholics 196,995, priests 156, religious 166), Korea. He succeeds Bishop Lee Han-taek S.J., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
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