Bishops elect Cardinal George as new president

Published: 2007-11-13

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops Nov. 13 elected Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago as their president and Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., as their vice president. Using an electronic voting system, the bishops voted on the second day of their Nov. 12-15 fall general meeting in Baltimore. Cardinal George won on the first ballot with 188 votes, or 85 percent. He is completing his three-year term as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is the first cardinal to be elected president or vice president of the conference since 1971. He succeeds Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., whose three-year term comes to an end at the close of the meeting. After a president was chosen from among 10 candidates, the remaining nine became the slate of candidates for vice president. There were three rounds of voting for vice president. Two votes included all nine remaining candidates and the third vote was between the top two: Bishop Kicanas and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee. Bishop Kicanas won with 128 votes; the archbishop received 106.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .