OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 8 April 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father:

- appointed Bishop Michael Owen Jackels as Metropolitan Archbishop of Dubuque (area 45,074, population 979,560, Catholics 206,843, priests 216, permanent deacons 91, religious 861), Iowa, USA. The archbishop-elect, previously bishop of Wichita, Kansas, USA, is a member of the Subcommittee on the Catechism in the U.S. Conference of Bishops. He succeeds Archbishop Jerome George Hanus, O.S.B., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

- appointed Msgr. John Thomas Folda as bishop of the Diocese of Fargo (area 92,650, population 396,000, Catholics 89,400, priests 120, permanent deacons 43, religious 126), North Dakota, USA. The bishop-elect was born in Omaha, Nebraska, USA in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1989. Since ordination he has served in several academic and pastoral roles, most recently as rector of the St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward, Nebraska, USA. He was named a chaplain of His Holiness in 2007.

- appointed Bishop Reynaldo Gonda Evangelista as bishop of Imus (area 1,287, population 2,843,000, Catholics 2,433,000, priests 261, religious 701), Philippines. Previously bishop of Boac, Bishop Evangelista is president of the Commission for Vocations on the Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

- appointed Archbishop Brian Udaigwe, titular of Suelli, as apostolic nuncio to Benin.

On Saturday, 6 April, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Jose Rodriguez Carballo, O.F.M., as secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop and assigning him the titular see of Bellicastrum. The archbishop-elect was born in Lodoselo, Spain in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1977. Since ordination he has served in several academic and administrative roles, most recently as minister general of the Order of Friars Minor. Archbishop-elect Rodriguez is a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.