Pope Francis has appointed Mons. Bruce Lewandowski as the new bishop of the Diocese of Providence, in the state of Rhode Island (United States), as announced by the Vatican on Tuesday.
Lewandowski, 57, currently serves as Baltimore auxiliary bishop. It will take possession in Providence on May 20, thus becoming the leader of the only Catholic diocese of Rhode Island.
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
The providence headquarters have been vacant since October 2024, when Bishop Richard Henning He became Boston archbishop.
“Pope Francis could not have chosen a better bishop for the Diocese of Providence,” said Baltimore Archbishop, Mons. William Lori, In a statement.
Mons. Lori praised Lewandowski for his leadership, particularly among Hispanic Catholics, and for supervising parish realignments during his time in Baltimore.
Mons. Lewandowski, who speaks Spanish and Portuguese fluently, said he will miss the Hispanic community of Baltimore.
“From the beginning, they received me as one more. We have gone through so many things together,” he told the magazine Catholic Review Baltimore. “It will be difficult to leave them,” he added.
Born in Toledo (Ohio) in 1968, Lewandowski joined the redeeming order, professing his final votes in 1988. He was ordered priest in 1994 in the Basilica of the National Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC
His pastoral assignments have taken him from New York and Philadelphia to Western Indies. He was pastor in the Bronx, Santa Lucia and Philadelphia, including San Bonifacio and the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From 2011 to 2015, he was a vicar of cultural ministries in Philadelphia.
He directed the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Baltimore from 2016 until his episcopal consecration and was appointed interim delegate for the Hispanic Ministry in 2019.
Mons. Lewandowski was appointed Baltimore auxiliary bishop in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Diocese of Providence was established by Pope Pius IX in 1872. It extends by 1,085 square miles and serves almost 599,000 Catholics, approximately half of the population of Rhode Island.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Courtney Mares
Courtney Mares is correspondent in the Vatican of Catholic News Agency (CNA), Ewtn News agency. Graduate from Harvard University, has reported from news offices on three continents and received the Gardner scholarship for its work with North Korean refugees.