OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 8 May 2013 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father:

   - appointed Fr. Luiz Antonio Cipolini as bishop of Marilia (area 11,958, population 711,000, Catholics 568,000, priests 91, permanent deacons 1, religious 163), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Caconde, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1986. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and academic roles, most recently, since 2006, as rector and professor of the diocesan Institute of Philosophy and as pastor of “Nossa Senhora de Fatima” parish in Sao Joao da Boa Vista. He succeeds Bishop Osvaldo Giuntini, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

   - appointed Msgr. Benno Elbs as bishop of Feldkirch (area 2,601, population 393,600, Catholics 258,000, priests 208, permanent deacons 23, religious 407), Austria. The bishop-elect, previously administrator of the same diocese since November of 2011, was born in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria and was ordained a priest in 1986. After ordination he was appointed spiritual director and successively rector of the Marianum in Bregenz and as director of the diocesan Pastoral Office and member of the college of consultors as well as the diocesan Financial Council.

   - appointed Msgr. Jose Aparecido Goncalves de Almeida as auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Brasilia (area 5,814, population 2,246,000, Catholics 1,541,000, priests 320, permanent deacons 69, religious 674), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Ourinhos, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1986. Since ordination he has served several pastoral and administrative roles, most recently as Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts where he has worked since 1994.

   - appointed Archbishop Martin Krebs as apostolic nuncio to New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and apostolic delegate to the Pacific Ocean. Archbishop Krebs, titular of Taborenta, was previously apostolic nuncio to Guinea and Mali.