VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI will perform his first episcopal ordinations as Pontiff, ordaining later this month a former assistant private secretary of Pope John Paul II and other members of the Roman Curia.
According to reports today in the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire, the Pope will ordain Polish Monsignor Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, recently appointed as the Latin-rite coadjutor bishop of Lviv, Ukraine. The ordination will take place Sept. 29, feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Rafael.
Monsignor Mokrzycki, 46, served from 1996 to 2005 as assistant private secretary to John Paul II, and was present at the Pontiff's death. The secretary returned to his post after the election of Benedict XVI.
Also to be ordained by Benedict XVI will be Monsignor Gianfranco Ravasi, recently appointed president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and president of the Pontifical Commissions for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and Sacred Archaeology.
Others to be ordained include Monsignor Vincenzo Di Mauro, new secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See; Monsignor Francesco Giovanni Brugnaro, appointed archbishop of Camerino-San Severino Marche; Monsignor Tommaso Caputo, appointed apostolic nuncio to Malta and Libya; and Father Sergio Pagano, prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives.
ZE07090406 - 2007-09-04