OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 22 NOV 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Donald Lippert O.F.M. Cap., councillor of the vice province of Papua New Guinea of the Friars Minor Capuchin, as bishop of Mendi (area 23,800, population 600,000, Catholics 114,000, priests 36, religious 70), Papua New Guinea. The bishop-elect was born in Pittsburgh, U.S.A. in 1957 and ordained a priest in 1985. Until the year 2007, when he was sent as a missionary to Papua New Guinea, he was active in the U.S.A. as, among other things, parochial vicar, programme coordinator for Hispanic candidates, professor of theology and provincial vicar and administrative secretary. He also spent periods of study in the U.S.A. and in Belgium.
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