OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 26 July 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

- appointed Fr. Paul Mattekatt of the clergy of Diphu as bishop of Diphu (area 15,222, population 1,178,809, Catholics 57,165, priests 55, religious 161), India. The bishop-elect was born in Kerala, India in 1961and was ordained a priest in 1988. He holds a licentiate and a specialist diploma in canon law from the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, has held a number of pastoral and administrative roles, including parish vicar of the Holy Family parish, Japralangso, secretary to the bishop and diocesan chancellor of Diphu, and diocesan bursar anddirector of the Social Work Office. He is currently priest of the Holy Family Parish, Japrajan, and president of the Confraternity of Priests of the diocese of Diphu.

- appointed Fr. Kishore Kumar Kujur of the clergy of Sambalpur as bishop of Rourkela (area 9,675, population 1,829,000, Catholics 238,085, priests 164, religious 555), India. The bishop-elect was born in Gaibira, India in 1964and was ordained a priest in 1993. He holds a doctorate in sacred scriptures from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral, teaching and administrative roles, including parish assistant in Balangir, professor of sacred scriptures at the regional seminary of Orissa, head of seminarians for the diocese of Sambalpur, member of the College of Consultors, and member of the Presbyteral Council.

- appointed Fr. Niranjan Sual Singh of the clergy of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar as bishop of Sambalpur (area 37,254, population 7,565,323, Catholics 42,656, priests 131, religious 400), India. The bishop-elect was born in Kottama, India in 1961 and was ordained a priest in 1991. He holds a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, and has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish assistant in Raikia, Modasoro and Balliguda, professor at the Khristo Jyoti Mohavidyaloyo Regional Theologate of Sason, moderator of seminarians in the archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, and is active in the lay apostolate in the areas of “Village Adoption and Tuition” and “Dialogue and Ecumenism”. He succeeds Bishop Lukas Kerketta, S.V.D., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- appointed Bishop Eugenio Scarpellini as bishop of El Alto (area 23,000, population 1,342,000, Catholics 1,007,000, priests 64, permanent deacons 38, religious 80), Bolivia. Bishop Scarpellini, previously auxiliary of El Alto, was born in Verdellino, Italy in 1954, was ordained to the priesthood in 1978, and received episcopal ordination in 2010.