Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Mgr. Sylvester Carmel Magro from the pastoral care of the Apostolic Vicariate of Benghazi in Libya, and has appointed Mgr George Bugeja, Titular Bishop of St Leone, in his stead.

The Pope thanked Bishop Emeritus Magro "for his self-less dedicated episcopal ministry which is well known and appreciated for its human warmth and its spiritual closeness to the people of God in Benghazi.

Apostolic Administrator George Bugeja was born on July 1, 1962, in Xaghra Gozo. He entered the Novitiate of the Friars Minor on October 2, 1977 and took his vows in 1978. He was ordained a priest in 1986. Aside from his philosophical and theological studies, he holds a diploma in journalism and spirituality.

He started his priestly ministry in Gozo and after a few years, was a superior in various Franciscan communities.

He was a parish priest in Sliema between 2004 and 2008 and subsequently was nominated as auditor of the ecclesiastical tribunal of the Diocese of Gozo and then, from 2010 - 2014, an official within the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples. From January 2015 he was superior of a convent of St Anthony of Padova in Ghajnsielem and was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Tripoli, receiving his Episcopal Ordination in September 2015.