ASIA/SRI LANKA - Resignation of the Bishop of Trincomalee, appointment of successor

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On 3 June 2015 the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral governance of the diocese of Trincomalee, in Sri Lanka, by His Exc. Mgr. Joseph Kingsley Swampillai, in accordance with canon 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. The Holy Father appointed Fr. Christian Noel Emmanuel Episcopal Vicar and General Bursar of the same diocese as Bishop of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka).
The new Bishop of Trincomalee was born on December 25, 1960, in Trincomalee. After secondary school, he entered the St. Joseph's Minor Seminary. In the years 1978-1981 he studied philosophy at the National Seminary in Kandy. In 1983 he entered the St. Paul's Major Seminary, Triruchirappally, in India, where in 1986 he finished his theological studies. He was ordained a deacon on 12 March 1985 and was incardinated in the then undivided Diocese of Trincomalee-Batticaloa. He was ordained a priest on May 21, 1986, in the Cathedral of Trincomalee.
Since ordination he has served the following pastoral and academic roles: 1986-1988: Assistant priest in the church-cathedral in Batticaloa; 1988-1989: Parish priest in the church of Iruthayapuram, Batticaloa; 1989-1993: Parish priest of the church of Our Lady of Good Health, in Akkaraipattu; 1993-1999: Director of the catechetical, biblical and liturgical Apostolate, Batticaloa; 1999-2001: Studies at the Urbaniana University in Rome; 2001-2011: Professor at the National Seminary in Kandy; since 2011: Episcopal Vicar of the diocese; Since 2012: General Bursar of the diocese. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 03/06/2015)