AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Apostolic Vicar of Ingwavuma appointed

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Benedict XVI, on November 24, 2008, appointed Fr. Jose Luis Gerardo Ponce de Leon I.M.C., Secretary General and Procurator general of the Consolata Missionaries, as Apostolic Vicar of Ingwavuma, South Africa, assigning him the titular see of Maturba.
The bishop-elect was born on May 8, 1961 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He became a citizen of South Africa, while maintaining his Argentinean citizenship. He studied with the Consolata Missionaries in Buenos Aires and Rome, and studied Theology at the Jesuit University “Javeriana” in Bogota (Colombia). He took his first vows on January 9, 1983 and made his solemn profession on December 28, 1985. He was ordained a priest on August 2, 1986. He has since ministered as follows: 1986-1993: Director of the Vocational Missionary Office and a Consolata magazine in Argentina; Formator of those studying Philosophy for three years; 1994-1998: in South Africa for performing pastoral service in the Diocese of Dundee, working in parishes in Damesfontein/Mpuluzi, Piet Retief, and Madadeni; 1999-2004: Superior of the South African Mission of the Consolata Missionaries; 2005: transferred to the parish in Daveytown (Johannesburg); that same year, sent to a General Chapter of the Consolata Missionaries in Brazil. In 2006, after the General Chapter, he was named Secretary General of his Congregation in Rome and Procurator to the Holy See. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 25/11/2008)