Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
9 November 2007
Vatican City — Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday appointed Fr. Rosario Saro Vella, S.D.B., parish priest and Superior of the Salesian Community in Bemaneviky, Bishop of Ambanja.
He succeeds Odon Marie Arsène Razanakolona who was appointed archbishop of the capital, Antananarivo, in December 2005.
According to a report by Fides news agency, Bishop-elect Vella was born on May 8, 1952 at Canicattì, Archdiocese of Agrigento, Italy. After attending secondary school run by the Salesians at San Gregorio, Catania, he went to the Theological Institute in Messina and was ordained a priest on May 27, 1979. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Palermo.
He has been a missionary in Madagascar 1982. He teaches Patristics at the major inter-diocesan seminary in Antsiranana and was a member of the college of consultors of Ambanja Diocese.
The Diocese of Ambanja, suffragan of Antsiranana, was created in 1955. It has an area of 34,083 sq km, a population of 1,241,000 of whom 109,217 are Catholics in 12 parishes, served by 31 diocesan priests and 19 religious priests. The diocese has 166 sisters and 18 major seminarians.
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