WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 24, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI appointed Father F. Richard Spencer of the Archdiocese of Baltimore as auxiliary bishop for the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Bishop-elect Spencer, 58, who is currently serving as
a deputy command chaplain for the U.S. Forces in Europe, will serve as auxiliary under Archbishop Timothy Broglio.
The archbishop, after hearing about the appointment, publicized Saturday by the Vatican, stated that «this election represents one more sign of the paternal care of our Holy Father for all of us.»
He noted that the bishop-elect «brings to his new ministry a wide variety of experience in many fields.»
Born in Sylacauga, Alabama, F. Richard Spencer was ordained a priest in 1988. His brother, Father Robert Spencer, is also a priest, serving in the U.S. Navy.
There are two other auxiliary bishops serving in the Military Archdiocese, along with some 968 priests.
Other appointments
Also on Saturday, the Vatican publicized the news that Benedict XVI appointed several relators of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
These include: Father Eduardo Baura de la Pena, canon law profesor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross; Father Paolo Giuseppe Bianchi, judicial vicar of the regional tribunal of Lombardy, Italy; Dominican Father Bruno Esposito, canon law professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas; Scalabrinian Father Luigi Sabbarese, dean of the faculty of canon law of the Pontifical Urban University; and Edward Peters, canon law professor at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary of the Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan.
Today, it was announced that the Pontiff gave his consent to the election by the Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Church of Redemptorist Father Bashar Warda as archbishop of Arbil of the Chaldeans.
Archbishop-elect Warda is currently serving as director of the Chaldean seminary in Ankawa, near Arbil, Iraq, and moral theology professor at a local institute of religious sciences.
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1969, Bashar Warda was ordained a priest in 1993.
The Chaldean Archdiocese of Arbil has some 20,000 Catholics served by five priests, six permanent deacons and 11 religious.
Other acts
The Vatican communiqué reported that on Saturday Benedict XVI elevated the Diocese of Tunis, Tunisia, to the rank of archdiocese, making the current head, Bishop Maroun Lahham, 61, the first archbishop of that new archdiocese.
The archdiocese has some 21,000 Catholics served by 32 priests and 150 religious.
As well, the Pontiff erected a new diocese of Kalay, Myanmar, from territory that used to be part of the Hakha Diocese.
He appointed Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang, 50, auxiliary of Hakha, to head the new diocese.
