A 50-year-old Arkansas parish pastor is the new leader of the thousands of Catholics in Florida's Diocese of St. Augustine, named by Pope Francis to replace retiring Bishop Felipe J. Estevez.
Announced early Tuesday, the dioceses' 11th bishop is the Rev. Erik Pohlmeier of Christ the King Catholic Church in Little Rock and the Arkansas dioceses' director of faith and deacon formation.
Pohlmeier said he was in his car contemplating lunch on May 15 when he got a call asking him if he would accept papal selection as bishop-elect of the 153,041 registered Catholics in the 17-county Diocese of St. Augustine.
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