WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco and named Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of Oakland, to succeed him.
The appointment and resignation were announced in Washington July 27 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Archbishop Niederauer, 76, had headed the San Francisco Archdiocese since 2005. A priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, he also served as Bishop of Salt Lake City for 10 years.
Archbishop Cordileone, a 56-year-old native of San Diego, was an auxiliary bishop in that diocese from 2002 until his 2009 appointment as bishop of Oakland.
On the national level, he is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage and a member of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance.
He has served on the bishops’ Task Force on Cultural Diversity and currently is on the Religious Liberty Committee of the California Catholic Conference.
He will be installed as the ninth archbishop of San Francisco during a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron of the archdiocese.