The Holy Father has:

- appointed Bishop Júlio Endi Akamine, S.A.C., auxiliary of the archdiocese of São Paulo, as archbishop of Sorocaba (area 4,237, population 1,104,000, Catholics 774,000, priests 87, permanent deacons 44, religious 181), Brazil. He succeeds Archbishop Eduardo Benes de Sales Rodrigues, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted by the Holy Father.

- accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Cleveland, United States of America, presented by Bishop Richard G. Lennon.

- accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Crato, Brazil, presented by Bishop Fernando Panico, M.S.C. He is succeeded by Bishop Gilberto Pastana de Oliveira, coadjutor of the same diocese.

- accepted the resignation from the office of archpriest and administrator of the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major presented by Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló. He is succeeded as archpriest of the same Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major by Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

- appointed Rev. Fr. Joseph Marie Ndi-Okalla as bishop of Mbalmayo, (area 11,664, population 400,000, Catholics 250,000, priests 102, religious 40), Cameroon. The bishop-elect was born in 1957 in Douala, Cameroon and was ordained a priest in 1983. He studied philosophy in the “Notre Dame de l’Immaculée Conception” interdiocesan major seminary at Nkolbison, Yaoundé, continuing his formation at the Institut Catholique de Paris and the University of the Sorbonne, where he studied theology and “Histoire et Civilisation” respectively, and obtained a Master’s degree in biblical and systematic theology. He went on to obtain a doctorate from the University of Bonn, Germany. He has served in a number of roles, including parish vicar, associate vicar for university pastoral ministry, lecturer in missiology, director of studies at the interdiocesan major seminary, and head of permanent formation of the clergy. He is currently vice-rector of the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé and secretary of the episcopal Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith. He succeeds Bishop Adalbert Ndzana, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese was accepted by the Holy Father.