VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency
Vatican City, Jul 3, 2014 / 07:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- It was announced by the Vatican earlier today that Pope Francis has tapped Bishop Edgar Moreira da Cunha, S.D.V., auxiliary for Newark, N.J., to lead the diocese of Fall River, Mass.
“Today, with a mixture of great joy and sadness, I congratulate Bishop Edgar da Cunha on his appointment as Bishop of Fall River,” Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark said in a July 3 statement.
“I am confident that the priests, religious and laity of the diocese of Fall River will quickly come to appreciate his many gifts as he undertakes his pastoral office among them.”
Bishop Cunha, 60, has served as the auxiliary bishop for the Newark diocese since 2003, and was appointed upon the retirement of Bishop George Coleman, who submitted his resignation after reaching the age limit of 75 in February.
Hailing from Brazil, Bishop Cunha was born in Nova Fatima Aug. 21, 1953. He attended school there and eventually entered the city’s minor seminary of the Vocationist Fathers in Riachão do Jacuípe, where he later joined the Vocationist Fathers, also known as the Society of Divine Vocations.
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