OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 7, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed Bishop Nechan Karakeheyan, of Ispahan of Armenians, Iran, Apostolic Adminstrator of the Ordinariate for the Catholics of Armenian Rite residents in Greece.

- Appointed Members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Mario Francesco Pompedda, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura; Archbishops Luigi Dossena, Apostolic Nuncio; Renato Raffaele Martino, President of the Pontifical Council "Justice and Peace"; Attilio Nicora, Bishop emeritus of Verona, Italy and President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See; Reverends Daniel Lagni, National Director of the Pontifical Missionary Works, Brazil; Gianbattista Zanchi, Superior General of the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions, Rome, Italy. Appointed Members of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Cardinals Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Koln, Germany; Adam Joseph Maida, Archbishop of Detroit, U.S.A.; Archbishops Attilio Nicora, Bishop emeritus of Verona, Italy, and President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See; Lluis Martinez Sistach, of Tarragona, Spain; Tarcisio Bertone, of Genoa, Italy.

Last Saturday, January 4, the Holy Father:

- Created the diocese of Nyahururu, (area 8,065, population 672,918, Catholics 181,632, priests 26, religious 77) Kenya, separate from the Archdiocese of Nyeri, suffrage to the same metropolitan church. He also appointed Reverend Luigi Paiaro, "fidei donum" missionary of Padua, as the first bishop of Nyahururu. The bishop-elect was born in 1934 in Voltabarozza, Italy, and was ordained a priest in 1959.

- Appointed Reverend Abba Kindane Yebio as Bishop of the Eparchy of Keren (area 25,949, population 949,000, Catholics 51,291, priests 32, religious 69) Eritrea. The bishop-elect was born in 1958 in Shinnara, Eritrea, was ordained a priest in 1985 and was the administrator of the same Eparchy.

- Appointed Msgr. Alan Stephen Hopes and Reverend Bernard Longley as Auxiliary Bishops of the Archbishopric of Westminster (area 3,634, population 4,435,000, Catholics 501,900, priests 771, religious 1,914, permanent deacons 4) in England, Great Britain. The bishop-elect Hopes was born in Oxford, England in 1944, was "ordained a priest" in the Anglican Church in 1968. He was received in the Catholic Church in 1992 and in 1955 was ordained a priest. Since 2001, he was the Vicar General of the same archdiocese. The bishop-elect Longley was born in Manchester, England, in 1955, was ordained a priest in 1981 and was the assistant to the Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference for Questions of Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JAN 7, 2003 (VIS) - This morning, the Holy Father received in separate audiences:

-The following Bishops ordained yesterday, with his family members:
- Archbishop Paul Tschang In-nam, Apostolic Nuncio in Bangladesh.

- Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Permanent Observer to the United Nations.

- Archbishop Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, Apostolic Nuncio in Benin and Togo.

- Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana, Apostolic Nuncio.

- Archbishop Angelo Amato, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

- Bishop Calogero La Piana, of Mazara del Vallo, Italy.

- Bishop Rene-Marie Ehuzu, of Abomey, Benin.

- Bishop Jan Babjak, of the Eparchy of Presov of Catholics of the Byzantine Rite, Slovak Republic.

- Bishop Andraos Abouna, Auxiliary of the Patriarchate of Babylonia of the Chaldeans, Iraq.

- Bishop Milan Sasik, Apostolic Adminstrator "ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the Eparchy of Mukacheve, Ukraine.

- Bishop Giuseppe Nazzaro, Apostolic Vicar of Alep of Latin Rite, Syria.

- Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

Last Saturday, January 4, he received in separate audiences:

- Archbishop Eugenio Sbarbaro, Apostolic Nuncio to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

- Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, Prelate of the personal Prelature of Opus Dei.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, JAN 3, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Joseph Latino, Vicar General of the diocese of Jackson and parish priest of the Cathedral of "Saint Francis de Sales" in Houma, as Bishop of the same diocese (area 97,458, population 1,994,011, Catholics 47,873, priests 88, religious 282, permanent deacons 8) in the U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in 1937 in New Orleans, U.S.A., and in 1963 was ordained a priest. He succeeds Bishop William Russel Houck, whose resignation from pastoral care of this diocese was accepted for reasons of age.

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AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, JAN 3, 2003 (VIS) - The Holy Father received in separate audiences:

- Mr. Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament, with his wife and following.

- Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, Apostolic Nuncio in Rwanda.

- Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, DEC 31, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father accepted the resignation from the office of the Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, U.S.A., submitted by Bishop Joseph Sartoris, upon having reached the age limit.

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