By AP/KWMU
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has named Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, a St. Louis native, as the next Archbishop of New York.
The Holy See made the announcement Monday. Dolan succeeds Cardinal Edward Egan, who is retiring after nearly nine years.
According to the St. Louis Archdiocese, Dolan was ordained as a priest in 1976 and St. Louis as an associate pastor and vice-rector of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. He was rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome from 1994 to 2001. Pope John Paul II appointed Dolan Archbishop of Milwaukee in 2002.
The archbishop of New York is the most prominent post in the U.S. Catholic Church. It is the second-largest diocese in the country after Los Angeles, and serves 2.5 million Roman Catholics.
Dolan's appointment extends a nearly unbroken chain of Irish-Americans who have held the job since the archdiocese was founded two centuries ago.