Bishop DiLorenzo, 61, succeeds Bishop Walter Sullivan, 75, who retired last September. Cardinal William Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore, has been serving as apostolic administrator of Richmond.
Francis Xavier DiLorenzo was born April 15, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and was ordained May 18, 1968. Among his duties in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, he was rector of the seminary.
He earned a doctorate in sacred theology in 1975 at the University of St. Thomas in Rome.
He was named auxiliary bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in January 1988. He was appointed apostolic administrator of Honolulu in October 1993 and bishop a year later.
The Richmond Diocese has 213,000 Catholics in a total population of 4.7 million.
