EscucharSAN JOSE - The city of Puntarenas is, since Friday, the seat of a new diocese; its hundred-year-old Temple of the Sacred Heart received the rank of cathedral, and the current priest of San Isidro de El General, Hugo Barrantes, was designated as First Bishop.
The news was given on Friday morning (noon in Vatican City), when the Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper, let it be known that Pope John Paul II had decided to create a new diocese that covers the 217,000 Catholics that live in the 6 districts of the province of Puntarenas.
In San Isidro de El General, in the southern zone, the new prelate --who is 62 years old-- received the official naming with serenity because he had already been named on April 2. His episcopal consecration will take place on July 16.
With the designation of Puntarenas as head of the diocese, there are now seven bishoprics that make up the Ecclesiastic Province of Costa Rica: San José, Alajuela, Limón, San Isidro de El General, Tilarán, Ciudad Quesada, and Puntarenas.
According to Costa Rica's Apostolic Nuncio, Giacinto Berlocco, the naming took place after the Costa Rican Episcopal Conference-- of which all the bishops are members-- asked the Pope to create the diocese, namely because the bishops of Tilarán and San Isidro de El General had too large a territory to cover.
The foundation of the Puntarenas bishopric is part of a reform project which included the creation of the Ciudad Quesada diocese and seeks to name another one in Cartago.
Necessary help
Monsignor Hugo Barrantes will have to look over 217,000 Catholics and 1406 sq. miles, 15 churches, and a pastoral center.
``With the passing of time, the country's population increases, and this is evident in the number of dioceses,'' commented the Archbishop of San José, Monsignor Román Arrieta.
According to Arrieta, it was necessary to create the position for a better attention to religious, social and pastoral problems.
According to Costa Rica's Nuncio, Hugo Barrantes was chosen because he has 36 years of priest experience, his theological preparation was sound, and his capacity for organization is impeccable.
