Pope Francis announced this morning that Bishop Edward Malesic will be transferred to the Diocese of Cleveland and will become their new bishop.
Word of Bishop Malesic’s transfer initially came from Vatican reporter Rocco Palmo, who says Malesic will fill a vacancy in the Cleveland Diocese that came about when Nelson Perez was promoted to the Archbishop of Philadelphia in February. Perez had served as the bishop of the Cleveland Diocese for less than three years.
Malesic has served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg since 2015. He was respected for his relaxed approach, but also dealt with the opioid epidemic and the fallout from the Catholic clergy child sex abuse scandal. He would issue an apology for the cover-ups of his predecessors and eventually release a list of all credibly accused priests who committed such acts.
Recently, Malesic has lead the effort to stream services online during a state-wide stay-at-home order, including the Diocese’s first ever virtual Holy Week, and continues to use email and social media to help those who are worshipping at home.
Bishop Malesic will be installed as the new Bishop of the Cleveland Diocese on September 14th. No word yet on who will take over for Bishop Malesic at that time.
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