WASHINGTON (November 30, 2000) -- Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Bishop Hovhannes Tertzakian, O.M.VEN., Apostolic Exarch for Armenian Catholics in the United States and Canada, and appointed Bishop Manuel Batakian of Beirut as his successor.

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made the announcement.

The Armenian Catholic Exarchate, headquartered in New York, serves some 26,000 persons residing in the United States and Canada.

Bishop Tertzakian was born in Syria in 1924. He was ordained in 1948 after studying at the Gregorian University in Rome. Bishop Tertzakian was appointed Titular Bishop of Trebisona and Apostolic Exarch of the Armenian Catholic Exarchate for the United States and Canada on January 6, 1995.

Bishop Batakian has been serving until now as Vicar General of Beirut of the Armenians.

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