OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 16 December 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father:

- confirmed Cardinal Marc Ouellet as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;

- appointed the following as members of the same dicastery:

Cardinal Francisco Robles Ortega, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico; Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, U.S.A.; Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia; Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Archbishop Pietro Parolin, secretary of State; Archbishop Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy; Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops; Archbishop Vincent Gerard Nichols of Westminster, Great Britain; Archbishop Paolo Rabitti, emeritus of Ferrara-Comacchio, Italy; Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Citta della Pieve, Italy; Bishop Felix Genn of Munster, Germany;

- confirmed the following as members of the same dicastery:

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Cardinal George Pell, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, Cardinal Francesco Monterisi, Cardinal Santos Abril y Castello, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, Cardinal Jose Octavio Ruiz Arenas, and Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.

- confirmed the Consultors of the same dicastery.

- appointed Bishop Georges Varkey Puthiyakulangara, M.E.P., as bishop of Port-Berge (area 23,367, population 699,000, Catholics 19,320, priests 15, religious 44), Madagascar. Bishop Puthiyakulangara, currently co-adjutor of the same diocese, was born in Endoor, India in 1953, was ordained a priest in 1982, and received episcopal ordination in 2009. He succeeds Bishop Armand Toasy, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

On Saturday, 14 December the Holy Father:

- appointed Bishop Rene Osvaldo Rebolledo Salinas as archbishop of La Serena (area 30,447, population 565,000, Catholics 464,000, priests 67, permanent deacons 66, religious 161), Chile. Bishop Rebolledo Salinas, previously bishop of Osorno, Chile, was born in Cunco, Chile in 1958, was ordained to the priesthood in 1984, and received episcopal ordination in 2004. He succeeds Archbishop Manuel Gerardo Donoso Donoso, SS.CC., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- appointed Msgr. Stanislaw Salaterski and Msgr. Jan Piotrowski as auxiliaries of the diocese of Tarnow (area 7,566, population 1,125,200, Catholics 1,118,200, priests 1433, religious 1190), Poland.

Bishop-elect Salaterski was born in Lipnica Murowana, Poland in 1954 and was ordained a priest in 1981. He holds a doctorate in history of the Church from the Catholic University of Lublin, and has served in a number of pastoral and academic roles, including parish vicar at the cathedral of Tarnow and in the parish of San Casimiro in Nowy Sacz; lecturer in ecclesiastical history at the Catholic University of Lublin, diocesan director for the pastoral of the young, episcopal vicar for the young, eccesiastical assistant of the Association of Catholic Educators, diocesan head of pastoral for artisans, and lecturer in history of the Church in the Pontifical Academy of Theology, Tarnow. He is currently priest of the Cathedral, as well as member of the diocesan historical Commission, the presbyteral Council, and the college of Consultors, and dean of the Tarnow-Poludnie deanery. He was named Chaplain of His Holiness in 2008.

Bishop-elect Piotrowski was born in Szczurowa, Poland in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He holds a doctorate in missiology from the Academy of Catholic Theology, Warsaw, and has served in a number of pastoral and missionary roles, including parish viar at Przeclaw and in the parish of the Holy Spirit in Mielec; missionary in Congo-Brazzaville; missionary in Peru, and national director of the Pontifical Missionary Works. Since 2009 he has been priest of the parish of St. Margaret at Nowy Sacz. He was named Chaplain of His Holiness in 2004.

- appointed Fr. Michele Petruzzelli, O.S.B., as ordinary abbot of the territorial abbey of Santissima Trinita di Cava de' Tirreni (area 10, population 8,000, Catholics 8,000, priests 9, permanent deacons 1, religious 13), Italy. The abbot-elect was born in Bari, Italy in 1961, and ordained a priest in 1998. He holds a licentiate in monastic theology from the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm and has served in a number of roles within within the monastery of Noci, including penitentiary, guest master and cellarer. He is currently master of novices and claustral prior.