OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 18 January 2013 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father:

- appointed Bishop Heiner Koch as bishop of the diocese of Dresden-Meissen (area 17,000, population 4,271,000, Catholics 139,890, priests 241, permanent deacons 11, religious 208), Germany. Bishop Koch, titular of Ros Cré, was born in 1954 in Dusseldorf, Germany, was ordained to the priesthood in 1980, and received episcopal ordination in 2006. Bishop Koch was previously auxiliary of Köln (Cologne), Germany.

- appointed Fr. André Gueye as bishop of the diocese of Thies (area 9,055, population 2,436,000, Catholics 52,641, priests 72, religious 146), Senegal. The bishop-elect was born in 1967 in Thies and was ordained to the priesthood in 1992. Fr. Gueye previously taught philosophy at the St. Jean Marie Vianney Major Seminary of Brin in the diocese of Ziguinchor, Senegal.

- appointed Msgr. Eamon Martin as coadjutor archbishop of the metropolitan archdiocese of Armagh (area 2,550, population 333,758, Catholics 227,120, priests 187, religious 391), Ireland. The bishop-elect, previously diocesan administrator of the diocese of Derry since 2010, was born in 1961 in Derry, Ireland, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1987. Msgr. Martin was appointed chaplain to His Holiness in 2011.

- elevated the apostolic exarchate for Ukrainian faithful of the Byzantine rite resident in Great Britain, to the rank of eparchy with the title "Holy Family of London". He appointed Bishop Hlib Borys Sviatoslav Lonchyna, M.S.U., as first bishop of the new eparchy. Bishop Lonchyna, previously apostolic exarch of Great Britain (Ukrainian) and titular of Bareta, was born in 1954 in Steubenville, Ohio, USA, was ordained to the priesthood in 1977, and received episcopal ordination in 2002.