OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 3, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Fr. Paul Kenjiro Koriyama, pastor at Shibushi, as bishop of Kagoshima (area 9,133, population 1,773,000, Catholics 9,287, priests 46, religious 187), Japan. The bishop-elect was born in Amamioshima, Japan in 1942 and ordained to the priesthood in 1972. He succeeds Bishop Paul Shinichi Itonaga, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Fr. Juan de Dios Hernandez Ruiz S.J., director of the "Pedro Arrupe" Spirituality Center, as auxiliary of San Cristobal de La Habana (area 7,542, population 3,900,000, Catholics 2,800,000, priests 111, permanent deacons 23, religious 427), Cuba. The bishop-elect was born in Holguin, Cuba in 1948 and ordained a priest in 1976.
NER:RE:NEA/.../KORIYAMA:ITONAGA:HERNANDEZ            VIS 20051205 (140)