Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Rene Ramirez RCJ to be the ninth Bishop of Sandhurst. Source: ACBC Media Blog.
Bishop Ramirez will succeed Shane Mackinlay, who was made Archbishop of Brisbane in September 2025.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB welcomed the appointment, which was announced on Saturday night.
“Bishop René Ramirez, in the short time he has been an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne, has served that archdiocese with humility, faith and generosity of spirit. He will certainly be missed,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“His warm and welcoming approach, which enabled him to quickly draw close to the people of Melbourne, will serve him well in his new ministry of service in the Diocese of Sandhurst.
“We pray that he will strengthen the life of the local Church with compassion and fidelity to the Gospel.”
Sandhurst Diocese covers an area of about 45,000 square kilometres of regional Victoria, with its Sacred Heart Cathedral based in Bendigo.
Bishop Ramirez, who hails from the Philippines, has been a priest since June 1998 and was ordained bishop in Melbourne in February 2025.
His first assignment as priest was as the vocation director for the Congregation of the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus in the Philippines.
Having studied in the Philippines and Rome, he became the pastor of Holy Family Parish in October 2015, overseeing the Catholic communities of West Footscray, Maidstone and Braybrook in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
Prior to becoming an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Melbourne he was parish priest of Shepparton South and Nagambie and supervising priest in Rushworth, in the Sandhurst Diocese.
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Pope names next Bishop of Sandhurst (ACBC Media Blog)
