Pope Names Bishop Ochoa of El Paso to Fresno, California

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named 68-year-old Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso, Texas, as Bishop of Fresno, California. He succeeds Bishop John Steinbock, who died December 5, 2010.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, December 1, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Armando Ochoa was born April 9, 1943, in Oxnard, California. He studied at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1970.

Bishop Ochoa served in several Los Angeles parishes and was associate director of the Spanish-speaking permanent diaconate for the archdiocese. He was named an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 1986, and named bishop of El Paso in 1996.
At the national level, he has served on bishops’ committees on vocations, laity, permanent diaconate, Hispanic affairs and migration.

The Fresno Diocese has a Catholic population of 1,074,901 persons, which is 39 percent of a total population of 2,756,266.