United States: American Bishops Elect a New President
Archbishops Timothy Broglio and William Lori
During the Fall Plenary Assembly, held in Baltimore, Maryland, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on November 15, 2022, elected a new president and vice-president: Msgr. Timothy Broglio, Archbishop of the Military Services, and Msgr. William Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore.
After three ballots the president was elected by 138 votes against 99 and the vice-president by 143 votes against 96. They began their mandate at the end of the Autumn Plenary Assembly, on November 17.
Archbishop Broglio, aged 70, was secretary of the Episcopal Conference. Ordained a priest in 1977, a Vatican diplomat in Rome and in various nunciatures, he was appointed Archbishop of the Military Services of the United States in 2007. From 1990 to 2001, he was the personal secretary of Pope John Paul II's Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
Considered a conservative, he has more than twenty years of experience in the Vatican diplomatic service and the Secretariat of State. He should thus be able to act as an intercessor for the American bishops in their sometimes difficult relations with the Holy See.
Msgr. Broglio was elected from a list of ten candidates “in which the four bishops trusted by Pope Bergoglio who appointed them cardinals, were not to be found: Blaise Cupich, Joseph Tobin, Wilton Gregory, and Robert McElroy,” commented Nico Spuntoni in La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana of November 17.
“Far from the composite portrait of a bishop with Bergoglian tendencies,” continues the Italian journalist, the new president of the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops is also “very active in the pro-life cause, closely linked to the Italian-American community and great connoisseur of Italy, admirer of Paul VI (whom he calls Pope Paul the Great) and of Humanæ Vitæ.”
The president and vice-president both serve a three-year term. The expected upcoming events are those of the first session of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October 2023; the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in June 2024; the closing session of the synod in October 2024, and the US presidential election in November 2024.
Archbishop of Baltimore since 2012 and known as a leading supporter of the pro-life movement, Msgr. William Lori, 71, was elected vice president. In his role on the bishops' pro-life committee, Archbishop Lori has repeatedly spoken out in favor of assisting pregnant women and against President Joe Biden's promotion of abortion.
“The president is gravely wrong to continue to seek every possible avenue to facilitate abortion instead of using his power to increase support and care to mothers in challenging situations,” he said on October 25.
(Sources : cath.ch/la nuova bussola/usccb/DICI n°427 – FSSPX.Actualités)
Illustration : Senior Airman Kristin High, Domaine public, via Wikimedia Commons & © catholicreview.org