Bishop Francis X. Dilorenzo Named Bishop of Richmond
WASHINGTON (March 31, 2004) -- Pope John Paul II appointed Most Reverend Francis X. DiLorenzo of Honolulu as Bishop of Richmond.
Bishop DiLorenzo succeeds Bishop Walter F. Sullivan who retired last September. William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore, has been serving as Apostolic Administrator of Richmond.
Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment.
Francis Xavier DiLorenzo was born April 15, 1942, in Philadelphia. He attended St. Callistus School, St. Thomas More High School, and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, and was ordained May 18, 1968.
He served in the Philadelphia Archdiocese in pastoral and education assignments, including associate professor at Immaculata College and Vice Rector and later Rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.
Bishop DiLorenzo took graduate studies at the University of St. Thomas in Rome where he earned a doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1975.
He was named titular bishop of Tigia and Auxiliary Bishop of Scranton, January 26, 1988. He was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Honolulu October 12, 1993 and Bishop of Honolulu October 4, 1994.
Established in 1820, the Diocese of Richmond encompasses all of the southern part of Virginia, including the Eastern Shore, some three-fifths of the state. It has a Catholic population of 213,528 in a total population of 4,727,638.