By Catholic News Service • Posted March 7, 2017

UPDATED – WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has appointed Msgr. Mark S. Rivituso, vicar general of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, to be an auxiliary bishop for St. Louis.

The appointment was announced in Washington March 7 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop-designate Rivituso, 55, has been vicar general since 2011. A native of St. Louis, he was ordained a priest for the archdiocese Jan. 16, 1988.

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The Archdiocese of St. Louis comprises close to 6,000 square miles in the state of Missouri. It has a total population of 2.24 million people. Just over 515,000, or approximately 23 percent, are Catholic.

“I am profoundly touched by the confidence the Holy Father has placed in me. I have asked him to keep me in his prayers and I have assured him of my prayers, respect and obedience,” Bishop-designate Rivituso said in a March 7 statement. “At the same time I am honored that I can in some way assist Archbishop (Robert J.) Carlson in his pastoral service to the Archdiocese of St. Louis.”

Born Sept. 20, 1961, in St. Louis, Bishop-designate Rivituso holds a bachelor’s degree from Cardinal Glennon College — now part of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in the St. Louis suburb of Shrewsbury, Missouri — and earned a master’s degree in divinity from Kenrick Seminary.

He also holds licentiate and master’s degrees in canon law from St. Paul University in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1988.

He has been pastor of Cure of Ars Parish in Shrewsbury, 2008-13, and prior to that, held associate pastor assignments in parishes throughout the archdiocese. Bishop-designate Rivituso also served as judicial vicar for the archdiocesan appellate tribunal, 2005-11, and was on the metropolitan tribunal’s staff 1993-94 and 1996-2004. He was also associate master of ceremonies to the archbishop from 1997-2008.

“I have a great love for the church in St. Louis, and relying on the example of the previous auxiliary bishops of St. Louis, who served so faithfully, I, too, look forward to serving the church in this new role,” Bishop-designate Rivituso said.