Shortly before, the Vatican had announced that 53-year-old Simon Engurait would be the new bishop of the Houma-Thibodaux diocese in the US state of Louisiana. The priest was born in Uganda and is reportedly the country's first ever bishop of African descent.
Engurait is not the only bishop with a migration-background to be appointed by Pope Leo XIV in his home country: In May, the Pope appointed the previous auxiliary bishop of San Diego, Michael Pham, as the new bishop of the diocese. The Vietnamese-born bishop succeeds Cardinal Robert McElroy, who was appointed Archbishop of the capital diocese of Washington by Pope Francis - and is the first Vietnamese-born bishop in the USA.
Eight days later, Pedro Bismarck Chau was appointed auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Newark (New Jersey). The priest was born in Nicaragua, South America.
Only two native-born US-Americans
With the new Archbishop of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Mark Eckman, the new Archbishop of Mobile (Alabama), Mark Steven Rivituso, and the new Bishop of Baker (Oregon), Thomas J. Hennen, only three of Pope Leo XIV's first bishop appointments in the USA were born in the USA.
In addition, the bishop of the Californian diocese of Monterey, Daniel Elias Garcia, was appointed Bishop of Austin (Texas) by Leo XIV.
A closer look at the bishop appointments in the USA under Pope Leo XIV is not only worthwhile because the country is the home of the new head of the Church.
Until his election as the 267th pope in church history, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was a member of the Congregation for Bishops in the Vatican from 2019.
From 2023, he was even Prefect of the now renamed Episcopal Dicastery. Some of the bishops now appointed are therefore likely to have already been scrutinised by him in his former role.
In addition, unlike in most dioceses in Germany, for example, the Pope has a free hand in appointing new bishops in the USA and can therefore directly influence the direction of a bishops' conference for years.
Bishop appointments "definitely notable"
So how can Pope Leo XIV's episcopal appointments in the USA be interpreted? The fact that three of the seven bishops appointed by Leo were born outside of the USA and are therefore immigrants themselves is "definitely notable", says Catherine Hoegeman. She is a sociologist at the Missouri State University and has been following the movements in the US episcopate for years. "It could be that Leo is attempting to increase the diversity of the U.S Bishops," Hoegeman told katholisch.de. However, it is still too early to judge.
Church historian and theologian Massimo Faggioli has a similar assessment of Leo's personnel decisions. He does not believe that they are "directly political", he told katholisch.de.
According to Faggioli, who researched and taught in the USA for several years and will be Professor of Historical and Contemporary Ecclesiology at Trinity College in the Irish capital Dublin from September, new bishops must comply with ecclesial criteria and the needs of the local churches.
"But certainly it contains a political message to the Trump administration, but also to all US Catholics, also those who voted for Trump."
Faggioli does not see Leo XIV's decisions as a new course, but rather a continuation of Pope Francis' policy. He had repeatedly criticised the migration policy in the USA and sent a letter to the US bishops in February condemning the plans for mass deportations. A policy that regulates migration in an orderly manner is indeed permissible.
However, the late church leader emphasised: "What is built on the basis of violence and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being begins badly and will end badly."
Hoegeman supports this thesis. The US bishops can be divided by many issues such as same-sex marriage or primacy of abortion.
"However, they are fairly consistent in support for welcoming immigrants and humane treatment of immigrants - well before the Trump administration."
Overall, the US episcopate has been reshaped by Francis in terms of numbers alone, the sociologist explains. "As of today, 71 percent of US bishops were appointed to the current position by Pope Francis" 23 percent were appointed by Benedict XVI and three percent each by John Paul II and Leo XIV.
"The question is: how do we measure it?"
However, it is difficult to categorise what influences this has in terms of content. Early on in his pontificate, Francis expressed his desire for pastoral bishops who carry "the smell of sheep" and are close to the people of God. "The question then becomes: how do we measure it?" says the sociologist.
Beyond empirical findings, however, the demeanour of the new Leo bishops raises eyebrows. For example, after a mass on World Refugee Day, the appointed Bishop Pham made his way to the federal court in San Diego together with other priests and the faithful to support and pray for immigrant families.
As a result, the masked US immigration officials left the corridors and none of the immigrants were deported.
"A global Catholic church like no other"
In Faggioli's view, the bishop appointments also reflect a further development in the US church: "The Catholic Church in the USA relies already on many non-US born clergy and religious and it's a global Catholic church like few others."
This is particularly significant in view of the Trump administration's rhetoric towards immigrants.
However, the theologian is not only focussing on the appointment of new bishops in the USA - but also on the Vatican: "We will know more about Leo's intention in the appointments when he chooses a new prefect for the Dicastery for the bishops," says Faggioli.
In addition to this personnel matter, it will also be interesting to see which other members Leo appoints to the dicastery.
"The US cardinals that Francis appointed as members of the Dicastery were very important to shape a certain policy of bishops' appointment in the USA." So here, too, his successor has the chance to become politically active.