Archbishop Gomez elected new president of U.S. Bishops' Conference

The Archbishop of Los Angeles, José Horacio Gomez, is elected as the new president of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He is the first Latin American Bishop to become president of the Conference.

By Vatican News

The Fall General Assembly of the USCCB, currently underway in Baltimore, has elected Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles to be the new president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference. Archbishop Gomez is 67 years of age and is the first Hispanic president of the Conference. He has been vice-president since 2016 and succeeds Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston.

Biography of Archbishop Gomez

Archbishop Gomez was born in Monterrey, Mexico. He obtained his Doctorate in Theology at the University of Navarra in Spain, in 1980. He was ordained a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei in 1978. In 1999, he was appointed Vicar of the Delegation of the Prelature of Opus Dei. Since 1991, he has been a member of the National Association of Hispanic Priests and has served twice as President of the Association.

Pope St John Paul II made him a Bishop in 2001. Before being appointed Archbishop of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest Catholic community, in 2010, he served as Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, Colorado, and as Bishop San Antonio, Texas.

Archbishop Gomez participated in two Synods of Bishops in the Vatican: the 2015 Synod on the Family and the 2018 Synod on Young People.

Archbishop Gomez was elected by an overwhelming majority: he received 176 of the bishops’ votes. The next closest candidate received 18.

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