- On Tuesday, May 16, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Washington (area 5,447, population 2,630,894, Catholics 578,796, priests 1,166, permanent deacons 187, religious 1,677), U.S.A.

The archbishop-elect was born in Pittsburgh in 1940, he was ordained a priest in 1966 and consecrated a bishop in 1986. He succeeds Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese, the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

Bishop Sartain was born on June 6, 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee. On July 15, 1978 he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Memphis. He was appointed as Bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock on January 4, 2000 and was ordained on March 6, 2000. In addition to his pastoral experience as a parochial vicar and as a pastor, Bishop Sartain also has considerable administrative experience, having served as Director of Vocations, Chancellor, Moderator of the Curia, Vicar for Clergy, and Vicar General. He currently is a member of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as the Chair of the USCCB Committee on the Home Missions.