Other Pontifical Acts

Vatican City, 16 April 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has:

- appointed Msgr. Werner Freistetter as military ordinary of Austria (priests 12, permanent deacons 3, religious 4), Austria. The bishop-elect was born in Linz, Austria in 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1979. He studied theology in Vienna and in Rome at the Germanic-Hungarian College, and has held a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar and parish priest in Vienna, assistant at the Institute of Ethical and Social Sciences at the Catholic Faculty of the University of Vienna, collaborator in the Pontifical Council for Culture, and member of the Holy See Representation at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (O.S.C.E.). He is currently director of the Institut fur Religion und Friede and episcopal vicar of the Austrian Military Ordinariate, and spiritual assistant of the Catholic International Military Apostolate. He succeeds Bishop Christian Werner, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same military ordinary in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

- appointed Msgr. Wilhelm Krautwaschl as bishop of Graz-Seckau (area 16,401, population 1,210,971, Catholics 853,594, priests 449, permanent deacons 69, religious 722), Austria. The bishop-elect was born in Gleisdorf, Austria in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1990. He holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Graz, and has served as deputy priest and parish priest in numerous parishes in the diocese of Graz-Seckau, and as dean of the deanery of Bruck an der Mur. He is currently rector of the seminary of Graz and responsible for vocational pastoral ministry, and judge at the diocesan tribunal.