WASHINGTON (October 7, 2003) — Pope John Paul II has named Auxiliary Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Detroit as Bishop of Toledo. He succeeds Bishop James R. Hoffman who died February 8, 2003.

Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment.

Leonard P. Blair was born April 12, 1949, in Detroit. He attended Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, and the North American College, Rome. He earned the S.T.L. at the Gregorian University in Rome in 1978 and the S.T.D. in 1997 at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas there.

Ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, June 26, 1976, he was appointed titular bishop of Voncariana and auxiliary bishop of Detroit July 9, 1999. Bishop Blair was ordained a bishop August 24, 1999.

Established in 1910, the Diocese of Toledo comprises 19 counties in Northwest Ohio. It has a Catholic population of approximately 315,000 in a total population of nearly 1.5 million.

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