Houston, Texas, Oct 18, 2007 / 07:03 am
Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo, head of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, is one of the two Americans Pope Benedict XVI has chosen to be elevated to the cardinalate, and the first Texan prince of the Church.
Referring to the decision, at a news conference Wednesday Cardinal-designate DiNardo said "It says something about Texas and how wonderful Texas is in the terms of the growth of our Catholic faith." He called the choice "very humbling and surprising" and offered his full loyalty and obedience to the Pope.
The cardinal-designate and other observers saw his elevation as recognition of the numerical growth of Catholicism in the southern United States. 1.3 million Catholics live in the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, while altogether there are 6.5 million Catholics in Texas. He credited his elevation to the work of all the previous bishops, priests, and vowed religious of his diocese. He especially thanked his predecessor, retired Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza.
The 58 year-old cardinal-designate was ordained a priest in his hometown of Pittsburgh and spent six years working at the Vatican in the Congregation for Bishops. In 1997 he was named bishop of Sioux City, Iowa where he shepherded 100,000 Catholics and, in his own words, "fifteen thousand square miles of corn fields." He was appointed archbishop of Galveston-Houston by Pope John Paul II in 2004.