The post has been vacant since May 22. Former Bishop Daniel F. Walsh had been appointed as bishop of the Santa Rosa Diocese in California.
Monsignor Pepe was born June 18, 1942, and graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia in 1970 with a master´s-of-divinity degree. He was ordained a priest in 1970.
He pursued graduate studies in biology at Villanova University and earned a doctorate in canon law at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, in 1976.
From 1986-1989 he served as vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and from 1989-1992 served as chancellor. The past several years he has served the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, most recently as chancellor.
The Diocese of Las Vegas has 430,000 Catholics. It has 24 active diocesan priests, 20 religious priests, and 25 priests from other dioceses. It has 24 parishes.
