Gozitan priest Giovanni Cefai has been appointed bishop of Santiago Apóstol de Huancané, Perú, the Vatican announced today.

Born in Zebbug, Gozo, on 5 August 1967, Cefai joined the Missionary Society of St Paul in 1984. He studied in London and Malta, and was ordained a priest in 1997.

He served the church in Malta between 1997 and 1999 before moving to Peru, where he was appointed parish priest of the Santa Cruz parish, in the Arequipa archdiocese.

The diocese under his responsibility has more than 200,000 citizens, with 170,000 of them Catholics.