A Malta-born priest, Fr Charles Victor Emmanuel Gauci, has been appointed as a bishop in the diocese of Darwin in Australia, the Malta Curia said.

Archbishop Mgr Charles Scicluna and auxiliary bishop-elect Joseph Galea Curmi have expressed their satisfaction at the appointment by Pope Francis.

Fr Gauci was born in Malta on 31 March 1952 and migrated with his parents to Australia in 1964. He was ordained priest on 10 December 1977.

He has worked in Hectorville, Woodville, Elizabeth North u Elizabeth South, Noarlunga-Seaford, Willunga-Kangaroo Island, Victor Hector Goolwa Island and Noarlunga-Seaford-Willunga.