NAMUR, Belgium, JUNE 1, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Rémy Victor Vancottem of the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels as bishop of Namur.
A Vatican communiqué announced Monday that Bishop Vancottem, 66, will succeed Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, who was appointed to head the Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese in January.
Born in Tubize, Belgium, Rémy Victor Vancottem was ordained a priest in 1969.
The Diocese of Namur has some 556,000 Catholics served by 726 priests, 63 permanent deacons, and 1,367 religious.
Ghana
Also Monday, the Vatican announced that appointment of Auxiliary Bishop Matthias Kobena Nketsiah of the Archdiocese of Cape Coast, Ghana, as archbishop of that city.
Archbishop Nketsiah, 68, succeeds Cardinal Peter Turkson, who was named president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace last October.
Matthias Kobena Nketsiah was born in Kakomdo, Ghana, and was ordained a priest in 1970.
The Cape Coast Archdiocese counts some 318,000 Catholics, with 121 priests and 152 religious.
Germany
Benedict XVI also accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Janssen, 77, of the Diocese of Munster, Germany, the Vatican communiqué reported.
The Pope appointed three more auxiliary bishops from the priests of that diocese.
These newly appointed auxiliaries include: Father Dieter Geerlings, 63, president of the diocesan chapter of Caritas and canon of the cathedral chapter; Father Christoph Hegge, 48, pro vicar general, head of the office for consecrated life and canon of the cathedral chapter; and Father Wilfried Theising, 47, provost and dean in Borken.
The Diocese of Munster has 2,007,335 Catholics, 1,165 priests, 270 permanent deacons, and 2,827 religious.
Sudan
On Saturday, the Vatican reported that the Holy Father appointed Father Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria of the Archdiocese of Khartoum, Sudan, as coadjutor of the Diocese of El-Obeid, Sudan.
Bishop-elect Mangoria has been serving as the rector of St. Paul’s National Seminary of Khartoum. He will now serve under Bishop Macram Gassis, 71.
The Diocese of El-Obeid includes an area that counts 8,900,000 people, 140,000 of them Catholic. The local Church is served by 38 priests and 28 religious.
Also on Saturday, a communiqué announced that Benedict XVI named Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, Canada, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the 4th centenary of the baptism of Grand Chief Henri Membertou of the Mi’kmaq nation.
The August 1 celebration will be held on Chapel Island, Nova Scotia.
