Pope Benedict XVI has named Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Diego as bishop of Oakland, it was announced March 23 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Cordileone, 52, succeeds Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, who had headed the Oakland Diocese since 2003 until his appointment as Detroit archbishop in January. He will be installed May 5 at Oakland's Cathedral of Christ the Light.

Bishop Cordileone was named auxiliary bishop of San Diego July 5, 2002, after having served as an official of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature in Rome since 1995.

As a bishop he has served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance and on the USCCB's Task Force on Cultural Diversity.

Salvatore Cordileone was born in San Diego June 5, 1956. Following elementary and secondary school, he began his formation for the priesthood in San Diego at St. Francis Seminary and then went to Rome to study at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University.

He was ordained a priest for the San Diego Diocese July 9, 1982. After ordination he was associate pastor at St. Martin of Tours Parish in La Mesa, Calif., for three years.

During 1985-89, he pursued doctoral studies in canon law in Rome. He returned to San Diego and from 1989 to 1991 he was secretary to the bishop and from 1985 to 1991 was an official of the diocesan tribunal.

In 1991-95 he was pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Calexio, near the U.S.-Mexican border. He was named a monsignor in 1999.

Bishop Cordileone holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the diocesan-run University of San Diego. At the Pontifical Gregorian University, he earned a bachelor's degree in sacred theology, and a licentiate and doctorate in canon law.

As the fourth bishop of Oakland, Bishop Cordileone will be the chief shepherd of more than 550,000 Catholics who reside in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The diocese, created in 1962, has 84 parishes and more than a dozen ethnic pastoral centers.

---CNS