Pope Names Bishop Aquila Of Fargo, North Dakota As Archbishop Of Denver, Bishop Malone Of Portland, Maine As Bishop Of Buffalo, Accepts Resignation Of Bishop Kmiec Of Buffalo

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, 61, as archbishop of Denver; Bishop Richard J. Malone of Portland, Maine, 66, as bishop of Buffalo, New York; and accepted the resignation of 75-year-old Bishop Edward U. Kmiec from the pastoral governance of the Buffalo Diocese.

The appointments and resignation were publicized in Washington, May 29, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Aquila succeeds Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap., who was named archbishop of Philadelphia last July.

Samuel Joseph Aquila was born September 24, 1950, in Burbank, California. He studied at St. Thomas Seminary, Denver, where he earned a master’s degree in theology, and at San Anselmo University, Rome, where he earned a licentiate in theology. He was ordained a priest for the Denver Archdiocese in 1976. In the archdiocese he served as director of the Office of Liturgy, secretary for Catholic education, the first director of the St. John Vianney Seminary, and chief executive officer of Our Lady of the New Advent Theological Institute. He was named coadjutor bishop of Fargo in 2001 and bishop of Fargo in 2002.

Richard Joseph Malone was born in Salem, Massachusetts,March 19, 1946, and ordained a priest for the Boston Archdiocese in 1972. He holds a bachelor of theology degree, a master of divinity degree, and a master of theology in biblical studies from St. John Seminary School of Theology, a doctor of theology degree in religion and education from Boston University, and a licentiate in sacred theology from Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

Bishop Malone was named an auxiliary bishop of Boston in 2000, and bishop of Portland in 2004. Prior to his ordination as a bishop, he taught theology at the archdiocesan seminary, had served as director of campus ministry at Harvard University, director of the archdiocesan office of ecumenical and interreligious affairs, director of religious education and secretary for education.

Edward Urban Kmiec was born in Trenton, New Jersey, June 4, 1936. He studied at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, the Gregorian University, Rome, and the North American College. He was ordained a priest in 1961. He was named auxiliary bishop of Trenton in 1982, bishop of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1992, and bishop of Buffalo in 2004.

The Denver Archdiocese has a population of 3,299,911people, with 541,419, or 16 percent, of them Catholic. It includes 25 counties across 40,154 square miles in northern Colorado.

The Buffalo diocese has 1,527,470 persons, with 633,550, or 41 percent, of them Catholic. It includes eight counties across 6,357 square miles in western New York State.

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