Pope names new archbishop of Chicago

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named Bishop Blase J. Cupich to succeed Cardinal Francis E. George as the archbishop of Chicago.

Listen to the press conference in Chicago, with Archbishop-elect Cupich:

The Pope accepted the resignation of Cardinal George, in conformity with canon 401 of the Code of Canon Law. At the time of his nomination, Bishop Cupich was heading the Diocese of Spokane in Washington.

Bishop Cupich was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1949. He earned his bachelor’s in philosophy from the College of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1971. For the next four years, he was a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Omaha in 1975, later earning a licentiate (1979) and a doctorate (1987) in sacramental theology from the Catholic University of America.

Among his pastoral assignments, he served as vicar at Saint Margaret Mary Parish and taught at Paul VI High School in Omaha (1975-1978). Subsequently, he served as director of the archdiocese’s Liturgy Office (1978-1981) and worked at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. (1981-1987). He was pastor at Saint Mary Parish in Bellevue (1987-1989) before returning to the world of education as president and rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio (1989-1997). He then served as pastor at Saint Robert Bellarmine Parish in Omaha for one year, before being named bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1998. In 2010, he was named bishop of Spokane.

The 65-year-old bishop is currently a member of various committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, including the Subcommittee on the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, the National Collections Committee and the Subcommittee on the Translation of Scripture Text.

He also sits on the Board of Governors of the Catholic Extension Society and is board president of the National Catholic Education Association.