OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 19 June 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

   - appointed Fr. Jose Carlos Brandao Cabral as bishop of Almenara (area 15,738, population 192,800, Catholics 147,300, priests 18, religious 39), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Tupa, Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1963 and was ordained a priest for the diocese of Limeira in 1993. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral, judicial, and diocesan-level roles, most recently, since 1993, as pastor of the “Menino Jesus” parish in the Diocese of Limeira, since 2005, as judge auditor of the Interdiocesan Ecclesiastic Tribunal and, since 2008, as diocesan chancellor. He succeeds Bishop Hugo Maria Van Steekelenburg, O.F.M., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

   - appointed Bishop Jose Carlos Chacorowski, C.M., as bishop of Caraguatatuba (area 1,992, population 292,000, Catholics 179,600, priests 21, permanent deacons 6, religious 53), Brazil. Bishop Chacorowski was previously auxiliary of Sao Luis do Maranhao, Maranho, Brazil, and titular of Casae Nigrae.

   - appointed Fr. Joseph Mopeli Sephamola, O.M.I., as bishop of Qacha’s Nek (area 11,500, population 400,000, Catholics 200,000, priests 22, religious 104), Lesotho. The bishop-elect was born in Tsoelike Ha Atlali, Lesotho, in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1991. Since ordination, he has served as a missionary in Zambia, as a delegate for the Oblates in Rome and novitiate master in Quthing, Qacha's Nek, as a delegate for studies in Spirituality in South Africa, and, most recently, as provincial of the Oblate Fathers in Lesotho.