AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - Appointment of Auxiliary of Xai-Xai

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On 30 March 2015, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Alberto Vera Aréjula, O.de M., Delegate Provincial Superior of Mercedari in Mozambique and Pastor in Xai-Xai as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Xai-Xai, Mozambique, assigning him the titular see of Novabarbara.
Fr. Alberto Vera Aréjula, O.de M., was born on 8 April 1957 in Aguilar del Río Alhama, in the diocese of Calahorra y La Calzada-Logroño (Spain). He gave his solemn vows in 1981 in the Monastery of El Puig (Valencia). He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Theology, attending the first year of Licentiate in Systematic Theology in 1982, at the Faculty of Theology of Catalunya (Barcelona). He completed the second year of Psychology at the University of Valencia in 1985. He was ordained a priest on August 22, 1981.
After ordination he has served in a number of roles: 1982-1985: Vicar of the Parish of Nuestra Senora de El Puig (Valencia); 1986-1994: formator of postulants and promoter of vocations in the Vicariate of Central America in Guatemala; 1994-1997: Vicar of the Parish of San José Obrero Castellón; 1994-1997: elected provincial counsellor and head of youth and vocational pastoral ministry for the Province of Aragon; 1997-2000: Formator in the Community of Reus; 2000-2013: Superior of the Community of Matola-Mozambiqye, rector of studies of the Mercedarian Seminary, Paish priest of Nossa Senhora do Livramento, primary and secondary school director, diocesan counsellor for Caritas in Maputo, Mozambique; since 2000: provincial delegate for the Mercedarian Fathers in Mozambique; 2013: Superior of the new Community of Xai-Xai (Mozambique), in the new Parish Nossa Senhora das Merces. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 31/03/2015)