Breaking News - Whispers in the Loggia: Son of Hickey, Heir of Carroll -- Bishop Lori Tipped for Baltimore

Son of Hickey, Heir of Carroll -- Bishop Lori Tipped for Baltimore

Rocco Palmo of the blog, Whispers in the Loggia, broke this news at 7:20 PM.

...As soon as tomorrow, sources tell Whispers that Pope Benedict will name Bishop William Lori, 60 -- leader of Connecticut's Bridgeport diocese since 2001 -- as the next head of the nation's oldest local church, first shepherded for 18 years by John Carroll, a cousin of the lone Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, and founder of the nation's first Catholic university at Georgetown shortly after his appointment in 1789.

In the post whose holder remains, by Roman decree, the "first among equals" of the American bishops, the Kentucky native would succeed Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, who the pontiff named as Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre last August. O'Brien remains Apostolic Administrator of the 550,000-member archdiocese until his successor's installation, and the new cardinal will maintain his American base there afterward as the city's archbishop-emeritus.

Cited as a top prospect for numerous prior metropolitan vacancies, especially heavy speculation began to tip Lori for the Baltimore nod within weeks of O'Brien's appointment to the Rome-based post overseeing the thousand year-old body responsible for supporting the church's works in the Holy Land...

Read the full story at Whispers!

Update: 9:47 PM Here is a list of the TLMs now held in the Diocese of Bridgeport, CT.