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WASHINGTON (July 5, 2002) -- Pope John Paul II has named the Reverend Monsignor Salvatore Cordileone as Titular Bishop of Natchez and Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego.
Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment.
Bishop-elect Cordileone has served as an official of the Supreme Tribunal of Segnatura, Rome, since 1995.
The Segnatura is the Church's highest juridical body under the pope.
Salvatore Cordileone was born on June 5, 1956, in San Diego, California.
Following elementary and secondary education, he began his formation for the priesthood first at St. Francis Seminary, San Diego, and then at the North American College and Gregorian University, Rome.
Bishop-elect Cordileone was ordained a priest for the San Diego Diocese on July 9, 1982.
He served as secretary to the diocesan bishop and as an official of the Tribunal of the Diocese of San Diego from 1985 to 1991.
From 1991 to 1995, he was pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Calexico.
Bishop-elect Cordileone was named a chaplain to the Holy Father with the tile of "monsignor" in 1999.
The southernmost diocese in California, the Diocese of San Diego is comprised of two counties and has a Catholic population of approximately 900,000 out of a total population of nearly 3 million.