Pope accepts resignation of Bishop Foley, names Baltimore auxiliary

Published: 2005-05-10

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop David E. Foley, 75, who has headed the Diocese of Birmingham, Ala., for 11 years. He also has named Msgr. Denis J. Madden, assistant general secretary of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, as an auxiliary bishop of Baltimore. The first changes in the U.S. hierarchy made by the new pope were announced in Washington May 10 by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo. The resignation of Bishop Foley had been originally announced in April as one of the last to be approved by Pope John Paul II. But the Birmingham bishop said in an April 12 statement that he had received word from Archbishop Montalvo that, "because of a misunderstanding," the information on the acceptance of the bishop's resignation "was not published by the Holy See in Rome."

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