Pope Francis appoints bishop for Bougainville, Papua New Guinea

On Saturday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Dariusz Kałuża, M.S.F. as bishop of the Diocese of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.

Bishop Kałuża was born in Pszczyna, Poland in 1967. He professed religious vows in 1987 and was ordained a priest in 1993. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar in Poland, and as a missionary in Papua New Guinea in the diocese of Mendi, as parish priest, director of the diocesan centre for formation for catechists, vicar general, and diocesan administrator, pastoral vicar of the archdiocese of Madang. In June 2016, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Goroka, also in Papua New Guinea.

According to the 2020 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, there are roughly 160,000 Catholics present in the diocese which represents 62.5% of the population. There are 33 parishes, 42 priests, 87 men and women religious and 12 seminarians.