Pope Francis has named Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, 56, archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis. Archbishop Hebda has served as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis since June 2015 and as coadjutor archbishop of Newark since 2013.
The appointment was publicized in Washington today by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Anthony Hebda was born September 3, 1959, in Pittsburgh. He holds a master’s degree from Harvard University, a doctor of law degree from Columbia University, and a licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (The Angelicum), in Rome.
He studied at North American College, Rome, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh on April 6, 1989. After ordination to the priesthood, he served in several diocesan positions. He was an official at the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, 1996-2003, and served as undersecretary of the council from 2003-2009, when he was named bishop of Gaylord, Michigan. He was ordained bishop of Gaylord on December 1, 2009.
Pope Francis appointed him coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark on September 24, 2013; he was installed on November 5, 2013. He has served concurrently as apostolic administrator of St. Paul-Minneapolis since June 15, 2015, upon the resignation of Archbishop John C. Nienstedt.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis comprises 6,187 square miles in the state of Minnesota. It has a total population of 3,274,486 people, of whom 825,000, or 25%, are Catholic.
