OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 10, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:

 - Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Birmingham, U.S.A., presented by Bishop David E. Foley, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Fr. Carlos Enrique Herrera Gutierrez O.F.M., pastor of the parish of San Rafael del Norte, as bishop of Jinotega (area 11,630, population 354,015, Catholics 263,000, priests 23, religious 38), Nicaragua. The bishop-elect was born in Managua, Nicaragua, in 1948 and ordained to the priesthood in 1982. He succeeds Bishop Pedro Lisimaco de Jesus Vilchez Vilchez, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

 - Appointed Msgr. Denis James Madden, adjunct secretary general of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association of New York, as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Baltimore (area 12,430, population 3,006,607, Catholics 506,587, priests 574, permanent deacons 183, religious 1,426), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Carbondale, U.S.A., in 1940 and ordained a priest in 1967.
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