Pope Francis has named Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau, Alaska, as bishop of Dallas. The appointment was publicized in Washington, Dec. 13, by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Burns was born Oct. 7, 1957, in Pittsburgh. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and holds a master of divinity degree and a master of arts degree in theology from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1983 and ordained as a bishop in 2009, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as bishop of Juneau.

During 2016, Bishop Burns has been a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Administration Committee and the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions. He concluded his term as chairman of the USCCB Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, in Nov. 2016.

Bishop-designate Burns succeeds Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, who headed the Diocese of Dallas before he was appointed by Pope Francis as the first prefect of the Vatican's new Laity, Family and Life Dicastery, in Aug. 2016. The Diocese of Dallas comprises 7,523 square miles in the state of Texas, with a population of 4,056,215 people of whom 1,320,737, or 33 percent, are Catholic.