The vice-president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania, Bishop Ryan Jimenez, has been appointed by Pope Francis to be the new Archbishop of Agaña, Guam. Source: CathNews New Zealand.
Philippines-born Archbishop-elect Jimenez was until now the Bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. He is also president of CEPAC, the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific or Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici and the vice president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania.
The federation is made up from the bishops conferences of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and CEPAC.
Archbishop-elect Jimenez is also a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.
The archbishop-elect came as a migrant worker to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in 1995, where he taught at a Catholic school on the island of Rota.
In 1999, he was accepted into the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa’s seminary program and was ordained in 2003.
In 2010, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Chalan Kanoa and, in 2016, as its second bishop.
Since March last year, the Very Reverend Romeo Convocar has served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña.
He replaced Archbishop Michael Byrnes, who resigned due to health reasons.
The Installation Mass for Archbishop-elect Jimenez will be held on August 15,at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna, Guam.
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Guam’s new archbishop well known to NZ bishops (CathNews New Zealand via Marianas Variety)
