Pope appoints new head for Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care

(April 18, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday named a new chief for the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care. Bishop Zygmunt Zimowski of Radom, Poland, is the new president of the pontifical council. Along with this appointment, the 60-year old bishop has been elevated to the rank of an archbishop. He takes over from Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan who last year had reached the retirement age of 75. Bishop Zimowski was born on April 7, 1949, in Kypienin, Poland. Following his priestly ordination in 1973 he obtained a licentiate and a doctorate in dogmatic theology. In 1983 he began serving the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and later was also in the team that prepared the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He also collaborated with the Polish programme of Vatican Radio. Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Radon in 2002. He has held several responsibilities in the Polish bishops’ conference. Besides his mother tongue, Polish, he also speaks Italian, German, English, French and Russian.