Vatican City, Feb 28, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, Texas. Coadjutor Archbishop Daniel DiNardo has been named the new archbishop.
Bishop DiNardo, 56, was ordained a priest of the Pittsburgh diocese in 1977, and served in the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops from 1980 to 1990. He was named Coadjutor Bishop of Sioux City in 1997 and became Bishop of Sioux City in 1998. He was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Galveston-Houston in 2004.
In December, 2004, Pope John Paul II created the new Ecclesiastical Province of Galveston-Houston and elevated the See of Galveston-Houston to a Metropolitan See.
Bishop Fiorenza was the first bishop of Galveston-Houston. He served as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, from 1998 to 2001.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has a Catholic population of more than one million.