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Speaking in his Angelus address on March 3, 2024, about the Israel-Hamas war, Pope Francis made an emotional plea for negotiations to reach a deal that both frees the hostages immediately and grants civilians access to humanitarian aid. / Credit… […]

Vatican City, Apr 21, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis appointed Tuesday Fr. Robert W. Marshall as the next bishop of Alexandria, Louisiana.

“I have known Bishop-elect Marshall for a number of years and am very pleased to welcome him to episcopal ministry here in the Diocese of Alexandria,” Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans said April 21.

“Please join me in praying for him and for the diocese as we move through this transition,” he added.

Marshall, 60, is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked as a civil attorney before his ordination to the priesthood at the age of 40.

He will lead the Diocese of Alexandria in central Louisiana, which has been without a bishop since March 2019.

It is unclear when his ordination and installation Mass will be able to take place as public Masses throughout the diocese remain suspended under coronavirus pandemic regulations.

Born in Memphis in 1959, Marshall studied history at Christian Brothers University in Memphis before earning a law degree from the University of Memphis in 1983. He practiced law for 12 years before discerning a call to the priesthood.

Marshall studied at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Memphis, where he served as pastor at a number of parishes, including the Church of the Ascension and St. Francis of Assisi Parish.

Marshall served as pastor of Memphis’ Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception since 2017 and vicar general for the diocese since 2019.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans has served as apostolic administrator of Alexandria since April 2019. Archbishop Aymond tested positive for COVID-19 in March and has been in recovery from the coronavirus.

Aymond recently created a COVID-19 response team to address how the Diocese of Alexandria will restart ministries and public liturgies after Louisiana’s Stay at Home order lifts on April 30. As those plans are finalized, a date for Marshall’s installation will be announced.

“I am sorry I could not be here for this good news announcement,” Aymond said. “In light of Governor Edwards’ ‘stay-at-home’ order and my ongoing recovery, I am not able to greet you in person. Regardless, it is a privilege for me to join you in welcoming your new bishop.”

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Vatican City, Jul 10, 2019 / 10:06 am (CNA).- Authorities will open two tombs in a cemetery on Vatican property Thursday in order to perform testing in connection with the unsolved disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi in June 1983.

Orlandi was the daughter of an envoy of the Prefecture of the Pontifical House and a citizen of Vatican City State. Her disappearance has been the subject of international intrigue, including suspicion about the Vatican’s role, since it occurred. After multiple investigations, Orlandi’s case was closed in 2016.

The exhumation of the tombs in the cemetery of the Teutonic College, located on Vatican extra-territorial property adjacent to Vatican City State, was authorized after a request by Orlandi’s family.

According to Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, the mother and brother of Orlandi requested the tombs be opened after receiving an anonymous message claiming the graves near a large statue of a pointing angel could contain clues to the 15-year-old girl’s disappearance.

Interim director of the Holy See press office, Alessandro Gisotti, stated last week the exhumation will take place July 11 in the presence of the case’s lawyers and Orlandi’s relatives and the relatives of the people buried in the graves concerned.

The opening of the tombs will be overseen by a forensic anthropologist and by the Vatican gendarmerie. Gisotti said that as the Vatican has no jurisdiction over the investigation of Orlandi’s case, the exhumation and forensic and DNA testing will be performed only in order to determine if Orlandi’s body was buried on Vatican property.

Speculation about Orlandi’s disappearance reignited last October when human bone fragments were discovered during the renovation of a building connected to the Holy See’s nunciature in Rome, though DNA testing found the remains to be from a male who died sometime between the 1st and 3rd centuries.

The tombs to be opened are those of Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe, who died in 1836, and Princess Carlotta Federica of Mecklenburg, who died in 1840.

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