Wednesday, July 14, 2010

CONSECRATION OF A BISHOP IN CHINA

VATICAN CITY, 14 JUL 2010 (VIS) - On Saturday 10 July, Msgr. Antonio Xu Jiwei, aged 75 and a priest for the last 25 years, was consecrated as bishop of Taizhou in the province of Zhejiang, China, according to a note released by the Holy See Press Office.

  The bishop had guided the diocese as diocesan administrator since 1999, and was approved by the Holy See as bishop of Taizhou. The government authorities also approved his episcopal ordination.

  The liturgical celebration was presided by Bishop Giuseppe Li Mingsu of Qingdao, Giuseppe Zhao Fengchang of Liaocheng, Giuseppe Xu Honggen of Suzhou and Giuseppe Han Yingjin of Sanyuan. These prelates are all in communion with the Holy See and recognised by the government.

  About a thousand faithful, who had also come from Shanghai and Ningbo, participated in the consecration of the new bishop, who is the second ordinary of the diocese which has been vacant since 1962. The ecclesiastical circumscription currently has some six thousand faithful, around fifteen priests and ten nuns. There are about twenty-five churches and other places of worship.

  Bishop Xu noted that his diocese is facing various challenges, but he is optimistic about a revival of evangelisation and a growth of the Catholic community.
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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 14 JUL 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Appointed Fr. Pedro Carlos Cipolini of the clergy of the archdiocese of Campinas, Brazil, pastor of the basilica cathedral "Nossa Senhora do Carmo", episcopal vicar and professor of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University, as bishop of Amparo (area 2,084, population 363,570, Catholics 296,770, priests 33, religious 168), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Caconde, Brazil in 1952 and ordained a priest in 1978. He succeeds Bishop Francisco Jose Zugliani, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Erected the apostolic exarchate for Syro-Malankar faithful in the United States of America (priests 15, religious 35), appointing Fr. Thomas Naickamparampil, secretary general of the major archiepiscopate of the Syro-Malankar Church, as first apostolic exarch of the new exarchate, at the same time appointing him also as apostolic visitor for Syro-Malankar faithful in Canada and Europe The bishop-elect was born in Mylapra, India in 1961 and ordained a priest in 1986.
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