The diocese is made up of the territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and is a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña.

Jimenez has been the apostolic administrator of the diocese since December 2010.

He was appointed administrator after Bishop Tomas A. Camacho retired in April 2010 at the age of 76.

The diocese was canonically erected on 8 November 1984 by Pope John Paul II. Its territories were taken from the archdiocese based in Guam.

Jimenez, originally from Dumaguete City in the Philippines, was ordained priest in Saipan on June 8, 2003, by Camacho, the first bishop for the now 32-year-old diocese.

He will be ordained bishop on 14 August. Archbishop Martin Krebs, apostolic delegate to the CNMI and apostolic nuncio to various island countries in the Pacific, will be the primary consecrator.

"Entrusted with fulfilling this appointment from Pope Francis through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I will do my best to serve the people of God." Jimenez said in a statement on Saturday.

"Please continue to pray for our Pope, our Apostolic Nuncio, our clergy, religious men and women, and people of God in the diocese."

"Please help me serve the Lord in ways everlasting and pray for me, your servant in Christ."

Jimenez turns 45 in December.

Since his ordination, he has had various roles with the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa including as diocesan chancellor, parochial vicar, rector and superintendent of Catholic schools.

The diocese, which covers 184 square miles on more than a dozen islands, some of them uninhabited, currently has 11 parishes and one mission church.

Catholics make up about 60 percent of the estimated 72,000 people of the Northern Marianas.

Source

• guampdn.com
• Image: umatuna.org

A good representation from the various dioceses and congregations is expected to attend. These include diocesan priests from Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia and Kiribati as well religious from the same areas. There will be some coming who did not reach ordination but who still greatly value the experience of training at Pacific Regional Seminary. It is hoped that some of those present will include the Bishops and Archbishops who are former students of PRS.

Because this is the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II and also the Year of Faith, the weekend in August will be focused especially on the Vatican II documents on the ministry of Priests and on formation. These will be part of an ongoing series of lectures which have run through this year on the documents of Vatican II.

The Pacific Regional Seminary was the fruit of the Vatican II's emphasis on building up the local church and of the Vatican II structure of the Conference of Bishops. The first Plenary session of the Bishops' Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) took place in 1968. By the time of the third meeting in Sydney in 1970, serious consideration was given to establishing a regional seminary for the Pacific and a decision was made at the same meeting.

Suva was the chosen site and Archbishop George Pearce (Archbishop of Suva) was entrusted with the task of purchasing a site and putting up the buildings. A temporary site at the Bishop Court close to the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart opened on 6^th March 1972 and was used for the first eighteen months.

Eighteen students - religious and diocesan - from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa started in 1972. But by June 1973 the new site and buildings at Suva point were opened with another seven students added to the numbers. Within 8 years, by 1980, the number of students reached beyond 100.

Source

• PRS
• Image PRS

Archbishop John Dew, Wellington; Bishop Patrick Dunn, Auckland; Bishop Denis Browne, Hamilton; Bishops Peter Cullinane and Charles Drennan, Palmerston North; Bishop Barry Jones, Christchurch, and Bishop Colin Campbell, Dunedin, will meet with Pope Benedict XVI and different parts of the Roman Curia. Prior to the ad limina visit, each bishop submitted a report on their diocese for the Holy Father.

The bishops will celebrate Mass with the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) at the altar of the tomb of Saint Peter in the Vatican Grottos on Monday 12 December. They will also meet with the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and three of the bishops will meet with the Pontifical Council for Culture.

On Tuesday 13 December the bishops will meet with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which they will discuss the Cause for the Beatification of Suzanne Aubert.

Wednesday 14 December will see the bishops meet with the Congregation for Clergy, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and the Secretariat of State. The Secretariat of State is divided into two sections, the Section for General Affairs and the Section for Relations with States. The current Substitute for General Affairs is Archbishop Giovanni Becciu who served in the Apostolic Nunciature in Wellington during the 1990s.

The first meeting for Thursday 15 December is with the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization. Following this some of the bishops will meet with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity while the others meet with the Pontifical Council for the Family. In the evening the bishops will celebrate Mass again with CEPAC at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.

On Friday 16 December groups of the bishops will meet with three Pontifical Councils - the Pontifical Councils for Legislative Texts, Social Communications, and Cor Unum. Some of the bishops will meet with the Congregation for Catholic Education on Saturday 17 December.

The visit will conclude on Saturday 17 December with a lunch at the Society of Mary Generalate. Here the bishops will meet with New Zealand priests, religious and lay people who are studying or working in Rome.

Source

• NZCBC
• Image: TheLeadingEdge Blog.com.