The Holy father erected the diocese of Sandakan (Malaysia) and appointed its bishop the Reverend Julius Dusin Gitom, a priest of the diocese of Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia). The news was related today by the Holy See, which stated that the new diocese of Sandakan covers two administrative districts in the State of Sabah, Sandakan and Tawau (“East Coast Division”) and is the suffragan of the archdiocese of Kuching. The bishop Julius Dusin Gitom was born on 14th October 1957 in Kampung Loltos, in the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu, and was ordained priest on 19th November 1989 and cardinal in the Diocese of Kota Kinabalu. In the same release, the Holy See also announced that the Pope appointed bishop of Noto (Italy) the Reverend mgr. Mariano Crociata, so far the Vicar General of the same diocese of Mazara del Vallo, and the bishop coadjutor of the diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia of the Latin (Ukraine), His Excellence Mgr. Marian Buczek. The Holy Father appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese of Yangon (Myanmar) the Reverend Justin Saw Min Thide, Treasurer of the same archdiocese, to whom he has given the titular bishop’s see of Lemfocta.
