OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 9 July 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father:

- gave his assent to the canonical election by the Synod of Bishops of the Greek-Melkite Church of Archimandrite Eduard Daher B.C. of the clergy of St. Elie in Zahle, as archbishop of Tripoli of Lebanon of the Greek Melkites.

- appointed Bishop Marcelo Daniel Colombo as bishop of La Rioja (area 92,100, population 350,000, Catholics 320,000, priests 43, permanent deacons 1, religious 35), Argentina. Bishop Colombo, previously bishop of Oran, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961, was ordained to the priesthood in 1988, and received episcopal ordination in 2008. He succeeds Bishop Roberto Rodriguez, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- appointed Fr. Juan Jose Chaparro Stivanello, C.M.F., as bishop of San Carlos de Bariloche (area 77,076, population 174,300, Catholics 123,100, priests 26, permanent deacons 2, religious 53), Argentina. The bishop-elect was born in Colonia Freitas, Argentina in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He holds a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the Gregorian Pontifical University and has served as provincial superior of the Province of Argentina-Uruguay, provincial coordinator of evangelization in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was appointed consultor of the province of San Jose del Sur in 2011 and superior of the community of Lambare, Paraguay, in 2013.