Bishop Robert Baker of Charleston, South Carolina, has been named by Pope Benedict XVI to become Bishop of Birmingham, Alabama.The appointment ends an unusually long search, and fills what had been the longest vacancy in the American Catholic hierarchy.
The Birmingham see has been open since May 2005, when Bishop David Foley retired at the age of 75.
The Birmingham diocese is actually smaller than Charleston, in terms of the number of registered Catholics.
But the assignment is a particularly important one, because the Birmingham diocese is the home of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), founded by Mother Angelica: the most influential Catholic broadcasting facility in the world.
The history of delicate relations between EWTN and the US hierarchy caused Vatican officials to weigh the selection of a new bishop with great care, prolonging the vacancy in Birmingham.
Bishop Baker, who has been heading the Charleston diocese since 1999, is regarded as a friend of EWTN.
His installation in the Alabama diocese is scheduled for October 2.
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