Pope appoints Dubuque's Msgr. Thomas Zinkula as new bishop of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Martin J. Amos of Davenport, Iowa, and named as his successor Msgr. Thomas R. Zinkula, a priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, who is currently rector of St. Pius X Seminary at Loras College in Dubuque.

Bishop Amos is 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope. He has headed the Davenport Diocese since 2006.

He said that since last December when he turned 75 and offered his resignation to Pope Francis, “we have prayed a diocesan prayer awaiting a new bishop. In part, it prayed for ‘a pastor who will please you by his holiness and will show us your watchful care.'”

“It is with joy and great pleasure that I introduce to you the answer to our prayers,” Bishop Amos said in a statement about Bishop-designate Zinkula.

The newly named bishop, an Iowa native who was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Dubuque May 26, 1990, turned 60 the day of his episcopal appointment as the ninth bishop of Davenport. He has been rector of St. Pius X Seminary at Loras College since 2014.

The episcopal ordination and installation Mass for Bishop-designate Zinkula will be celebrated June 22 at St. John Vianney Church in Bettendorf, Iowa. Until then, Bishop Amos will serve as apostolic administrator of the diocese.

The Diocese of Davenport covers more than 11,400 square miles. Out of a total population of over 792,000, about 97,000 people, or 12 percent, are Catholic.

SupCathHerald