Vatican City, 8 March 2016 – The Holy Father has appointed Msgr. James F. Checchio as bishop of Metuchen (area 3,688, population 1,383,217, Catholics 636,217, priests 204, permanent deacons 154, religious 304), United States of America. The bishop-elect was born in 1966 in Camden, United States of America and was ordained a priest in 1992. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, and has served in a number of pastoral roles, including parish vicar, defender of the bond in the tribunal of Camden, director of the diocesan Public Relations and Communications Office, parish administrator and moderator of the Curia. He is currently rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He succeeds Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.