Pope appoints new bishop in Kansas City, Mo.

Bishop James Johnston Jr. will be installed on Nov. 4.

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop James Johnston Jr. as the seventh bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, the diocese said on its website on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau

Reuters

September 15, 2015 at 1:44 p.m. ET

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop James Johnston Jr. as the seventh bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, the diocese said on its website on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau

(Reuters) Pope Francis has appointed Bishop James Johnston Jr. as the seventh bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, the diocese said on its website on Tuesday.

Johnston will be installed as bishop of the diocese on Nov. 4, the website said. Until then, he will continue to serve as administrator of Missouri’s Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, where he was consecrated bishop in 2008, the website said.

READ: Pope Francis dumps 2 more bishops as housecleaning continues

Johnston, 55, of Knoxville, Tennessee, left a career in engineering in 1985 to pursue a call to the priesthood, according to the website.

Kansas City Bishop Robert W. Finn resigned in April, three years after he was convicted in 2012 of shielding a priest who took pornographic pictures of girls.

Finn is the only U.S. Roman Catholic bishop to be convicted for not reporting suspicions of pedophilia. Groups representing victims of abuse by clerics had called for Finn’s dismissal.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales)

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