LOS ANGELES – Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio was named Tuesday to succeed the archbishop of Los Angeles, the Holy See's most significant acknowledgment to date of the growing importance of Hispanics in the American church.
The appointment also was evidence that Pope Benedict XVI wants a strong defender of orthodoxy leading the largest diocese in the nation. Gomez, 58, is an archbishop of Opus Dei, the conservative movement favored by the Vatican.
The Mexican-born Gomez was named coadjutor for Los Angeles, which means he will take over when Cardinal Roger Mahony retires on Feb. 27, his 75th birthday.
"It's one of the great Catholic communities in the world," Gomez said. "Los Angeles, like no other city in the world, has the global face of the Catholic Church."
The appointment of Gomez, who now leads the Archdiocese of San Antonio, puts him in line to become the highest-ranking Latino in the American Catholic hierarchy and the first Latino cardinal in the U.S.
The leader of the large and important Los Angeles archdiocese has traditionally been a cardinal.
Hispanics make up 70 percent of the 5 million Catholics in the Los Angeles archdiocese and more than one-third of the 65 million Catholics in the United States. Mahony, who was dogged by the clergy sex abuse scandal, developed a reputation during his quarter-century tenure in Los Angeles as a liberal-leaning leader and was often the target of Catholic conservatives.
Gomez will oversee the fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal. In 2007, Mahony agreed to a record-setting $660 million settlement with more than 500 alleged victims. A federal grand jury is investigating how the archdiocese handled abuse claims.
Gillian Flaccus,
The Associated Press
(Posted by Michael Felix)
