The Most Rev. Fr. James F. Checchio, bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey, was named the next archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans by Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, taking over from a retiring Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

A scholar of church law and the former leader of the American seminary in Rome, Checchio, 59, will serve alongside Aymond before taking the reins of the nation's second-oldest Roman Catholic diocese in coming months, the Vatican announced.

His appointment comes 10 months after Aymond, 75, reached the mandatory retirement age for bishops. Aymond is also close to wrapping up the local church's long-running bankruptcy case, and he affirmed in a letter Wednesday that he plans to conclude that process before passing responsibility for the region's half-million

See Full Page