Pope Names Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien Of Baltimore To Head Knights Of The Holy Sepulchre

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop Edwin F O’Brien of Baltimore as Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order (Knights) of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, August 29, by Msgr. Jean-François Lantheaume, chargé d’affaires at the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States.

The Knights of the Holy Sepulchre is a chivalric organization dedicated to supporting the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and to responding to needs of Catholics in the Holy Land.

Archbishop O’Brien, 72, succeeds Cardinal John P. Foley, who last February resigned due to illness and returned from Rome to his native Philadelphia.

Archbishop O’Brien was named archbishop of Baltimore in 2007, and before that served as head of the Archdiocese for Military Services USA, and an auxiliary bishop of New York. As a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, he worked as a civilian chaplain at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and as a military chaplain in Vietnam and U.S. Army posts. He also served as vice-chancellor and director of communications for the New York Archdiocese and as a seminary rector at St. Joseph’s Seminary, in Yonkers, N.Y. and the Pontifical North American College in Rome.