Pope Francis has named Monsignor Carl Kemme, 53, vicar general of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, as bishop of Wichita, Kansas.
He also named Monsignor Peter Baldacchino, 53, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami.
The appointments were publicized in Washington today by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Carl Kemme studied at the Diocesan Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis, and Kenrick Seminary, St. Louis. He was ordained for the Springfield Diocese in 1986, and named a monsignor in 2002. He succeeds Archbishop Michael Jackels who became Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa, April 8, 2013.
The Wichita Diocese covers 20,021 square miles. The population is 988,234 persons, with 112,499, or 11% of them, Catholic.
Florida
Bishop-elect Baldacchino has been chancellor of the Turks and Caicos Islands (T.C.I.), a juridical mission of the Newark Archdiocese, since 1999.
Peter Baldacchino was born December 5, 1960, in Sliema, Malta, and holds citizenship in both the United States and Malta. He studied for the priesthood at Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary in Newark, 1990-1996, and was ordained a priest for the archdiocese in 1996. He was named a monsignor in 2009.
He speaks English, Italian, Maltese, Spanish and Creole.
As auxiliary in Miami, he will assist 63-year-old Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
