Pope
Francis on Saturday appointed a new head to the Archdiocese of Kuching
in Malaysia.
Auxiliary Bishop Simon Poh Hoon Seng of Kuching is now the
Archbishop of the same archdiocese.
He takes over from Archbishop John
Ha Tiong Hock whose resignation the Pope accepted on Saturday.
Archbishop Hock was appointed Archbishop of Kuching by St. Pope John
Paul II in May 2003.
Pope Francis appointed Simon Peter Poh Hoon Seng
as Kuching Auxiliary Bishop in July 2015.
Bishop Poh was born in Sri Aman on April 15, 1963, studied Philosophy
and Theology at St Peter’s College seminary in Kuching.
He was
ordained priest on July 31, 1988. Since his ordination, he has served in
different capacities in various churches within the Archdiocese of
Kuching; which covers Kuching, Samarahan, Serian and Sri Aman
Divisions.
He obtained a Licentiate in Missiology from the Pontifical
Urbaniana University, Rome in 1996.
Later in 2015, he obtained a
Doctorate of Ministry from Indiana University, USA.
Malaysia has 6 dioceses and 3 archdioceses. The other archdioceses are Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu.