Pope taps Cleveland bishop to lead Philadelphia Archdiocese
Pope Francis on Thursday announced Cleveland Bishop Nelson Perez will replace Charles Chaput as Philadelphia’s next archbishop, making him the first Hispanic leader of the region’s 1.3 millionmember archdiocese.
Before and after Bishop Perez’s appointment was officially announced, news of the change in Roman Catholic archdiocese leadership rippled through the region, creating hope, excitement and anticipation for the return of the homegrown priest with a soft spot for Reading Terminal Market.
Bishop Perez will be installed at a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul on Feb. 18. He will become just the 10th archbishop to lead the church in Philadelphia since it was elevated to the rank of an archdiocese in 1875.
“Once a Philadelphia priest, always a Philadelphia priest,” Bishop Perez said during a news conference Thursday introducing him as the region’s next archbishop. “The part of me that has that identity inside of
me cannot wrap its head around being archbishop of Philadelphia. It just doesn’t compute.”
“But it is what the Lord wants,” Bishop Perez added.
The appointment of Bishop Perez, the first Hispanic to lead the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, sparked joy and hope in local Latino communities as they expect he will have a significant impact on people here and abroad, writes the Inquirer’s Jesenia De Moya Correa.
The appointment of Bishop Perez — a 58-year-old of Cuban American background — makes him only the third Hispanic archbishop in the United States, and one of the few able to speak to Pope Francis in his native language.
Bishop Perez’s appointment signals to cardinals and archbishops back in Latin America and the Caribbean that Francis has “a revolutionary idea of younger, more liberal religious leaders that could eradicate conservatism in the hierarchy,” said Jose Herrera Galan, of Oxford Circle, a political campaign adviser who studies social ideology.
Ordained in 1989 by then Archbishop Anthony Bevilacqua, Bishop Perez served as a vicar at St. Ambrose Parish in Olney (19891993); assistant director of the Office for Hispanic Catholics (1990-1993); founding director of the Catholic Institute for Evangelization (19932002); pastor of St. William Parish in Lawncrest (20022009); and pastor of St. Agnes Parish in West Chester (20092012).
Bishop Perez also taught courses in psychology and religious studies at La Salle University and developmental psychology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.
The news of Bishop Perez’s appointment to lead Philadelphia’s 1.3 millionmember archdiocese garnered mixed reaction across the city Thursday.
Some local Catholics told the Inquirer’s Justine McDaniel and Anna Orso they were excited for the homegrown priest’s return, while others expressed hope for the fresh leadership. Still, others were anxious to see what Bishop Perez’s reign will mean for the church and its faithful.
“It’s one of the most important appointments of Francis for the United States, there’s no question about that,” said Villanova professor and church historian Massimo Faggioli.
Traditionally, the leader of the Philadelphia Archdiocese has been named a cardinal, the second-highest clerical rank in the church, behind pontiff. But Francis never elevated Archbishop Chaput to cardinal, denying him the opportunity to wear the red zucchetto.
While Archbishop Chaput was an outspoken conservative who rarely attacked President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, Bishop Perez has emerged as a critic of the administration, saying the nation had lost its “moral compass” over the policy of separating families at the border.
“The state doesn’t give human rights,” Bishop Perez told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2018. “We’re born with them and given them by God ... human rights cross borders.”