Pope Leo XIV makes first U.S. bishop appointment, fills San Diego vacancy

VATICAN CITY AP Pope Leo XIV history s first American pope on Thursday made his first American bishop appointment as he named Bishop Michael Pham as bishop of San Diego California Related Articles Iran s top diplomat says special measures may be taken to defend nuclear sites from Israel In the modern day in History May strongest earthquake recorded strikes Chile The UN says no aid that has entered Gaza this week has reached Palestinians Putin visited Russia s Kursk region for first time since Moscow disclosed it drove out Ukrainian forces Trump confronts South African leader with baseless indicates of the systematic killing of white farmers Pham is at this moment an auxiliary bishop in the diocese He fills the vacancy created when Pope Francis named Cardinal Robert McElroy archbishop of Washington D C earlier this year Pham who was born in Da Nang Vietnam was ordained a priest in the San Diego diocese in and was made a bishop in He was in charge of services for the dioceses ethnic groups and as of March had been the main diocesan administrator The diocese of San Diego counts about million Catholics in a total population of about million people according to the U S Catholic bishops conference Prior to his electoral process May the former Cardinal Robert Prevost headed the Vatican s bishops office and in that ceiling would have reviewed and vetted Pham s file Pope Leo XIV holds his first weekly general audience in St Peter s Square at The Vatican Wednesday May AP Photo Gregorio Borgia In another appointment Thursday Leo named a nun as the No in the Vatican s congregation for religious orders a workable sign that he plans to continue Francis efforts to promote more women to decision-making roles in the Vatican Sister Tiziana Merletti the former head of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor is a canon lawyer and now reports to Sister Simona Brambilla whom Francis in January appointed as the first-ever woman to head a major Holy See office Associated Press religion coverage receives help through the AP s collaboration with The Conversation US with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc The AP is solely responsible for this content