Pope Leo XIV has made a fresh round of episcopal appointments in the United States, naming a new bishop for the Diocese of Laredo, a new bishop for Wheeling-Charleston, and two new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Washington. The Vatican announced the appointments on May 1, marking one of the most substantial batches of American episcopal changes since the start of Leo’s pontificate.
In Texas, Fr John Gomez has been appointed bishop-designate of Laredo following the retirement of Bishop James Tamayo, who has led the diocese since 2000. Gomez, who was born in Colombia in 1975 and ordained for the Diocese of Tyler in 2009, has served in a range of parish and diocesan roles, including as judicial vicar and as vicar general and moderator of the curia.
In West Virginia, Pope Leo has accepted the retirement of Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston and named Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as his successor. Menjivar-Ayala, currently an auxiliary bishop of Washington, was born in El Salvador in 1970 and has the distinction of being the first Salvadoran bishop in the history of the United States. Ordained for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2004, he has served in parish ministry, on the priest personnel board and priest council, and as vicar general since 2023.
His transfer leaves two openings in Washington, which Pope Leo has filled by appointing Fr Gary Studniewski and Fr Robert Boxie III as auxiliary bishops. Studniewski, ordained in 1995, is currently pastor of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington, DC, and previously served for nearly a decade as a military chaplain.
Boxie, ordained in 2016, currently serves as chaplain at Howard University. Before entering seminary he studied engineering and law, taking degrees from Vanderbilt and Harvard, and later pursued ecclesiastical studies in Rome. He has served in several Maryland parishes and has also taught in the archdiocese’s permanent diaconate programme.
At a Washington press conference following the announcement, Studniewski spoke warmly of the local Church, saying he had “fallen in love” with Catholic life in the capital during his time in the US Army before ordination. Boxie, visibly moved, described the appointment as unexpected and said he was “both overwhelmed and deeply humbled” by the Pope’s decision. Addressing the students he has served at Howard, he added with affection: “You made your chaplain a bishop, and Holy Mother Church thanks you.”
Taken together, the appointments offer an early indication of the kind of episcopal leadership Leo wishes to advance in the United States: men formed by parish life, administrative responsibility and close pastoral contact with the faithful. They also point to the breadth of contemporary American Catholicism, with the new bishops bringing experience shaped by Latin America, military service, university ministry and diocesan governance. As Leo’s pontificate takes clearer shape, such appointments will be watched not only for who is chosen, but for what they suggest about the type of Church leadership he intends to build.
