Bishop William E. Lori, who recently has been a very public champion of religious liberty rights, has been named the 16th Archbishop of Baltimore.
Pope Benedict XVI made the announcement Tuesday, according to the Vatican Information Service.
Lori, who led the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese, succeeds Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, who served as Baltimore’s 15th archbishop from October 2007 to August 2011 when he was named pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
Archbishop Lori, 60, recently testified before the House Committee of Oversight and Government Reform on the matter of the HHS mandate and gave one of the most unique and incisive testimonies seen in Washington D.C. in a long time when he told a parable about a kosher deli and a ham sandwich.
As head of the Baltimore archdiocese, Lori will act as shepherd to 499,529 Catholics, 543 priests, 158 permanent deacons, and 1,249 religious.
