(03 June 09 - RV) On Wednesday Pope Benedict appointed George Joseph Lucas Archbishop of Omaha in the United States of America.

Archbishop Lucas, formerly bishop of Springfield Illinois, takes over from Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss, who has retired on reaching the age limit of 75.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1949, he was the eldest of four children and attended St. Louis Preparatory Seminary South, and then Cardinal Glennon College.
Archbishop Lucas studied theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, and was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal John Carberry on May 24, 1975.
After a period spent in pastoral work within his diocese, in 1987, he began teaching at the newly-merged St. Louis Preparatory Seminary, becoming its Dean of Students that same year.
From 1990 to 1994, he served as Chancellor of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and private secretary to Archbishop John May.
In 1999, Msgr. Lucas was appointed the eighth Bishop of Springfield in Illinois by Pope John Paul II.
Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Lucas sits on the Subcommittee on the Catechism and Sapientia Christiana Committee.
The Archdiocese of Omaha originally covered all of Nebraska and Wyoming in the Western United States.  Today, its territory includes 23 northeast Nebraska counties and an area of 14,051 square miles.


The general population of the 23 counties is approximately 889,000 and the Catholic population is about 220,000 people. There are 149 parishes and missions within the Archdiocese.