Vatican appointments for Americans

Today the Holy Father named Father Michael A. Blume, S.V.D., as Apostolic Nuncio to the west Africa countries of Benin and Togo and named him an Archbishop. Archbishop-elect Blume was born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1946 and ordained a priest for the Divine Word Missionaries in 1972. He received a theology degree from the Gregorian University in Rome. He taught theology at a seminary in Ghana from 1975 to 1983. After that, he was his order's provincial for Ghana, Benin, and Togo from 1983 to 1990 and Secretary-General from 1990 to 1994. In 1995 he began working for the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People and was named Under-Secretary in 2000. (Father Blume was not exactly a career diplomat, but he obviously has strong experience both in the region and in Rome.)

Also today, Archbishop William Levada, formerly Archbishop of San Francisco and currently Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, was named a member of the Congregation for Bishops (as was his predecessor).