The Vatican announced on 4 July 2016 the appointment of Bishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta of San Pedro de Macoris as the metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of Santo Domingo. He will succeed Cardinal archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez. The Vatican indicated that Lopez’s resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese was accepted by the Pope given the later had reached the age limit.
The new archbishop was born on 10 October 1951 in Nagua, diocese of San Francisco de Macoris. He studied philosophy at the Madre y Maestra University of Santiago and theology at the Santo Tomas de Aquino Seminary. He was ordained priest on 2 September 1978 in San Francisco de Macoris. Ozoria Acosta studied pastoral theology at the Pontificia Universidad Lateranense in Rome from 1988-1990.
The Vatican also announced it had accepted the resignation presented by Bishop Amancia Escapa Aparicio from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Santo Domingo, also for the later reaching the age limit.
The Vatican reported the new Archbishop will be in charge of an area with a population of 3,821,278 people, of which an estimated 3,490,035 are Catholics, 402 priests, 159 deacons.
http://www.news.va/en/news/323498
