Chicago cardinal voted president of bishops' conference
BALTIMORE — The cardinal elected Tuesday to lead the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops' conference was already one of the most influential men in the American church.
Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago for a decade, earned two doctorates in philosophy and theology, knows six languages and has deep ties within the Vatican.
As the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, he will host Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Washington and New York in April and guide church leaders through a presidential election season in which religion will once again figure prominently.
George received 85 percent of the vote out of a field of 10 candidates at the bishops' fall meeting. He had served the last three years as the conference vice president. The prelate holding that job customarily is elected to the top post.
George succeeds Bishop William Skylstad, of Spokane, Wash., who is ending his term. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., was elected as the new vice president on the third ballot.
Public policy issues, from war to politics, are part of the agenda of this week's event.
Skylstad released a statement Tuesday calling conditions in Iraq "unacceptable." He stressed the need for a bipartisan "responsible transition" out of the country.
Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, vehemently opposed the military strike, and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, has condemned the "continual slaughter" in the country. Benedict expressed his concerns directly to President Bush in their first meeting in June at the Vatican.
Skylstad said some policy makers have failed to recognize American failures in the invasion and occupation, while other U.S. lawmakers haven't acknowledged "the potential human consequences of very rapid withdrawal."
"Our country needs a new direction to reduce the war's deadly toll and to bring our people together to deal with the conflict's moral and human dimensions," Skylstad said.
