Bishop Burke of La Crosse named new archbishop of St. Louis

Published: 2003-12-02

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II has named Bishop Raymond L. Burke of La Crosse, Wis., as the new archbishop of St. Louis. He succeeds Cardinal Justin Rigali, who was named archbishop of Philadelphia last summer. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, papal nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment in Washington Dec. 2. When he is installed in his new post Jan. 26, Archbishop Burke will go from a diocese with some 200,000 Catholics in a total population of about 850,000 to an archdiocese with a Catholic population of 555,000 in a total population of nearly 2.2 million. Bishop Joseph F. Naumann, a St. Louis auxiliary who has served as archdiocesan administrator since Cardinal Rigali's departure, called Archbishop Burke "one of the most gifted members" of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and said he was respected among his fellow bishops "for his intelligence, dedication and prayerfulness."

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