On Thursday, Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Klaus Kung of Feldkirch, as the new bishop of  the diocese of Sankt Pölten, recently rocked by a sex scandal involving the diocese’s seminary and forced the early resignation of Bishop Kurt Krenn.

The new Bishop, a member of Opus Dei who was appointed Apostolic Visitor to the diocese when the sex scandal sparkd, is well known at the Vatican.

A Medical School graduate, in 1962 he joined Opus Dei and studied theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

He was ordained a priest for the Persoanl Prelature of Opus Dei  on August 23 1970, and  from 1976 to 1989  served as the Regional Vicar of Opus Dei in Austria.

On January 21, 1989 he was appointed Bishop of Feldkirch.

Bishop Küng is a member of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy  and a Consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family.