OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 21 November 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father:

- appointed Bishop Thomas Luke Msusa, S.M.M., of Zomba, Malawi, as archbishop of Blantyre (area 9,166, population 5,166,000, Catholics 1,539,209, priests 93, religious 384), Malawi. He was born in Iba, Malawi in 1962, was ordained to the priesthood in 1996, and received episcopal ordination in 2004.

- appointed Fr. Paskalis Bruno Syukur, O.F.M., as bishop of Bogor (area 18,368, population 16,283,000, Catholics 83,406, priests 76, religious 205), Indonesia. The bishop-elect was born in Ranggu, Indonesia in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1991. He holds a licentiate in spirituality from the Pontifical University “Antonianum” and has served in a number of roles, including master of novices at Depok, guardian of the community of the Order of Friars Minor at Depok and member of the provincial council, provincial minister in Indonesia, and definitor general of the Order of Friars Minor for Asia and Oceania in Rome.

- accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, presented by Bishop Rainer Klug, upon having reached the age limit.

- appointed Bishop Celmo Lazzari, C.S.I., as apostolic vicar of San Miguel de Sucumbios (area 13,287, population 143,300, Catholics 139,000, priests 30, permanent deacons 7, religious 50), Ecuador. Bishop Lazzari was previously apostolic vicar of Napo, Ecuador.