RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Catholic Diocese of Richmond has a new bishop. Pope Francis has appointed the Most Rev. Barry C. Knestout. The 55-year-old was the auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington. Knestout will be the diocese’s 13th bishop, and he was introduced this morning at a Richmond news conference:
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond includes all of central and southern Virginia, as well as the Eastern Shore. The diocese has 153 parishes and more than 220,000 active Catholics. Knestout succeeds Bishop Francis DiLorenzo, who died in August at the age of 75. According to the Richmond Diocese, Knestout grew up in Bowie, Maryland. He earned an architecture degree from the University of Maryland before beginning his studies at Mount St. Mary’s seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He was ordained a priest in 1989.
