The list you are showing has those who have “reached the age.” If I am not mistaken, there are several Dioceses that are “still open” and the Holy Father received a request for removal due to poor health only last week. That is a huge number to replace!
I have the impression that the outgoing (Arch)Bishop has had significant input into his successor. That is surely true for D.C. and San Fran, IMHO. I hope that now that the Papal Nuncio has had time to get the full lay of the land, that will stop. It is clear that the Bishops being appointed to the South (and I am thinking of the Carolinas) are very solid. Who is engineering that is not known to me, but it could be the man in Philadelphia since Raleigh was one of his.
It has been speculated that several Archdioceses that were historically “Cardinatial Sees” may not be so anymore. The absence of a Cardinal from Texas, for example, is glaring with its huge Catholic population. I would not be surprised to see a change in that direction as well.
I would love to see Bishop Bruskewitz move to either coast. The thunder would roar!
>> The list you are showing has those who have “reached the age.” If I am not mistaken, there are several Dioceses that are “still open” and the Holy Father received a request for removal due to poor health only last week <<
There are seven vacant sees, but none of them are archdioceses.
>> I have the impression that the outgoing (Arch)Bishop has had significant input into his successor. <<
I would think it only natural that the evaluation of subordinates by outgoing bishops has strong influence on the recommendations of the nuncio.
>> Who is engineering that is not known to me, but it could be the man in Philadelphia [Regali!] since Raleigh was one of his. <<
From Regali to Raleigh? LOL! Yes, I believe Regali is a good assistant in identifying solid bishops.
>> It has been speculated that several Archdioceses that were historically “Cardinatial Sees” may not be so anymore. The absence of a Cardinal from Texas, for example, is glaring with its huge Catholic population. <<
I can’t see Baltimore, the mother diocese of the USA, being denied a Cardinal, nor New York, even though it is very small since Washington to its own Cardinatial see. I can’t see Washington losing one since it was just established in the last few decades; if it did, it would be taken as a sharp rebuke to Paul VI. The other five “Cardinatial Sees” are the five largest archdioceses in the nation. The next biggest is Newark, a shrinking diocese literally overshadowed by New York.
Maybe someday, Houston-Galveston will be, but it was only recently elevated to archdiocese, is still smaller than the dioceses of Brooklyn, Rockville Center and Orange, has very inconsequential suffragan dioceses, and oversees a very modest number of parishes (150). Texas isn’t all that Catholic; about 5 million out of 20 million Texan residents are Catholic. There’s 65 million Catholics in America.
I would LOVE to see Archbishop DiNardo made a Prince of the Church. We only got Archdiocese status about 5-7 years ago so it could happen. This is Houston, btw, the biggest city in the South and our Diocese includes Galveston.