Pope Benedict XVI has chosen a local clergyman as bishop of the Bay Area diocese.
Benedict named Monsignor Salvatore Joseph Cordileone of San Diego as bishop of Oakland, California, said the Vatican’s press office.
At 52 years old, Cordileone has been serving as an auxiliary bishop in San Diego since 2002.
He studied theology for four years at the North American College in Rome and later obtained a doctorate in canon law at Rome's Gregorian Pontifical University.
Cordileone is a member of the Catholic Bishops Conference task force in the United States on cultural diversity in the church.
