OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 2 May 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

   - appointed Fr. Raymond Browne as bishop of Kerry (area 5,300, population 149,514, Catholics 143,300, priests 113, religious 215), Ireland. The bishop-elect was born in Athlone, Ireland in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1982. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and judicial roles, most recently as pastor in Ballagh and the Diocese of Elphin's designated contact for the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) as well as for assistance for elderly and ill clergy. He succeeds Bishop William Murphy, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

   - gave his assent to the canonical election carried out by the Synod of Bishops of the Greek-Melkite Church of Archimandrite Nicolas Antipa, B.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Bosra e Hauran of the Greek-Melkites (Catholics 27,000, priests 22, religious 10), Syria. The archbishop-elect was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1945 and ordained a priest in 1971. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and academic roles, most recently as professor of Sacred Scripture at the Saint Paul Theological Institute of Harissa, Lebanon and at the Institute of Theological and Pastoral Studies of the archeparchy of Beirut of the Greek-Melkites, Lebanon.