By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Pope John Paul the Second today named Belleville, Ill. bishop Wilton Gregory to be the new Archbishop of Atlanta.
Gregory been Belleville's bishop for more than a decade. The diocese includes Illinois' 28 southern-most counties.
But Gregory became nationally known three years ago, just after becoming President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. That's when the priest sex abuse scandal became national news.
Gregory's term recently ended, which fueled speculation that he might soon be due for a new appointment in a bigger diocese.
But Belleville Diocese spokesman David Spotanski says the speculation wasn't new: "Those rumors have been around since right after he got here. He's been so articulate and so upfront a leader throughout his episcopacy that frankly we didn't think we'd have him more than 5 or 6 years when he came to Belleville."
Gregory will, indeed, be moving to a much bigger flock. Atlanta's archdiocese has about 5,000,000 more people in it, including 263,000 more Catholics.
There's no word on who will be the new Belleville bishop.