Pope Names Philadelphia Auxiliary Bishop Cistone To Saginaw, Michigan
WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Joseph R. Cistone, 60, an auxiliary bishop in Philadelphia, as Bishop of Saginaw, Michigan.
The appointment was announced in Washington, May 20, by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Cistone succeeds Archbishop Robert Carlson, who was named Archbishop of St. Louis, April 21.
Joseph Robert Cistone was born in Philadelphia May 18, 1949, and attended Catholic schools in the archdiocese before studying for the priesthood at the archdiocesan seminary, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania. There he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and a Master of Divinity degree in theology.
He was ordained a priest in 1975, and served as assistant pastor in several parishes until named Dean of Formation, Theology Division, at St. Charles Seminary, 1991-1993. In 1993, he was named associate to the Vicar for Administration, and from 1994-1998 was Vicar for Administration. In 1998, he was named Vicar for Administration/Vicar General. He was named an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia in 2004.
As a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Cistone has served on the Budget and Finance Committee, the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, and the Subcommittee on African American Affairs.
The Saginaw Diocese includes 6,955 square miles. The total population of the diocese is estimated at 718,815 people, with 119,086, or 17 percent, of them Catholic.