The Holy Father has:

- Fr. Timothy Harris as bishop of Townsville (area 434,000, population 288,000, Catholics 83,000, priests 27, religious 62), Australia. The bishop-elect was born in 1962 in Brisbane, Australia and was ordained a priest in 1992. He studied at the Pius XII regional seminary and then worked in a bank in human resources and client relations. He served as assistant in the parishes of Grovely and Caboolture, before being appointed as parish priest of Graceville; he led the union of this parish with the nearby parish of Corinda. He has also served as member of the council of presbyters and the Clergy Appointments Board. In 2010 he was appointed pastor of “Surfer’s Paradise”, and is currently also holds the office of vicar forane for the South Coast zone of the archdiocese of Brisbane.

- erected the new diocese of Maintirano (area 33,794, population 264,494, Catholics 31,205, priests 16, religious 26), Madagascar, with territory taken from the dioceses of Tsiroanomandidy, Mahajanga and Morondava, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Antananarivo, and appointed Bishop Gustavo Bombin Espino, O.SS.T. of Tsiroanomandidy as first bishop of the new diocese.