January 4, 2013 (Romereports.com) On January 6, the Pope will ordain
four new bishops at St. Peter's Basilica. The four candidates are current members of the Roman Curia, but their newly assigned positions require them to be part of the College of Bishops.
The ceremony will certainly be even more meaningful for the Pope because his personal secretary and closest collaborator,
Georg Gaenswein, is among the candidates. Several weeks ago, he was named the Prefect of the Papal Household. Gaenswein is German and 56 years old.
Another soon-to-be bishop is Italian Vincenzo Zani. He has been serving as the secretary for the Congregation for Catholic Education since November, after having worked for ten years with the congregation. He is 62 years old.
Fortunatus Nwachukwu, 52, was named nuncio to Nicaragua. He is Nigerian and for the past five years served as Head of Protocol for the Vatican Secretariat of State.
The fourth candidate to be ordained as bishop on Sunday is Frenchman Nicolas Thevenin, 54. For some time he served as the secretary to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. He is a protonotary apostolic and often joins the Pope during audiences. He has also been appointed as a nuncio.
RCG/RCarr
RR
JM
-PR
-u: RCarr
