Pope Benedict has named one of his two private secretaries to be the next leader of Ukraine's Latin rite Catholics, the Vatican said on Monday.
Monsignor Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki was named "coadjutor" archbishop of the city of Lvov, meaning he will eventually succeed the current archbishop, Cardinal Marian Jaworski, 80.
Mokrzycki, 46, a native of Poland, has been the junior secretary to Benedict since the pontiff was elected in 2005. He was also the junior secretary to the late Pope John Paul.
John Paul's former senior secretary, Stanislaw Dziwisz, was promoted by Benedict in 2005 to be archbishop of the southern Polish city of Krakow and last year was made a cardinal.
Latin rite Catholics in the Ukraine are mostly of Polish origin. They worship in the same rite as Catholics in the West.
Eastern rite Catholics in Ukraine, who have their own leader, worship in a Byzantine ritual similar to that used by Orthodox churches.
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