Other Pontifical Acts

Vatican City, 28 January 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

- appointed Fr. Cesar Alcides Balbin Tamayo as bishop of Caldas (area 1,395, population 260,000, Catholics 250,000, priests 61, religious 76), Colombia. The bishop-elect was born in Santa Rosa de Osos, Colombia in 1958 and was ordained a priest in 1985. He holds a licentiate in moral theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, a licentiate in philosophy and science of religious education from the Universidad Catolica de Oriente, Colombia, and a master's degree in business administration from the Escuela de Administracion de Empresas in Barcelona, Spain. He has served in a number of pastoral and administrative roles, including rector of the “Miguel Angel Builes” minor seminary and of the “Santo Tomas de Aquino” major seminary in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Osos, director of the “Cooperativa Fraternidad Sacerdotal”, administrator of the “Mutuo Auxilio Sacerdotal Colombiano” of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, and financial director of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia. He is currently parish priest of the “Santa Barbara” parish in Bellavista. He succeeds Bishop Soleibe Arbelaez, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

- accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Graz-Seckau, Austria presented by Bishop Egon Kapellari, upon reaching the age limit.