Overview
- The Vatican, which issued the appointments Friday, named the 56-year-old Washington auxiliary to lead the Diocese of Wheeling–Charleston in West Virginia.
- Menjivar-Ayala fled El Salvador’s conflict, entered the United States in 1990 after detention in Mexico and a payoff to cross at Tijuana, and was ordained a priest in 2004.
- The Holy See also named Robert Boxie III and Gary Studniewski as new auxiliary bishops for Washington and appointed Colombian priest Juan Gómez to lead the Diocese of Laredo, Texas.
- The selections come during public friction with President Trump, as Pope Leo XIV called U.S. immigration policy “extremely disrespectful” and urged humane treatment of migrants.
- Separate reporting this week described the death of 33-year-old Denny Adán González in ICE custody at Georgia’s Stewart detention center, a case under investigation that has renewed scrutiny of medical care in detention.