Pope Leo XIV yesterday named Auxiliary Bishop Ramon Bejarano of San Diego as the new bishop of Monterey, California.

“Christmas must serve to reaffirm the centrality of Christ in our lives,” Cardinal Parolin said to 400 legislators in the Sistine Chapel on the evening of December 16. “Advent is the time when the sense of the Lord’s return is alive, for we all die and we all must present ourselves to the judgment of the tribunal of God.”

“We must make room for him, prepare the manger within ourselves, not only the external one—a beautiful tradition that must be preserved—but above all within ourselves,” he added. “Christmas is an event that must transform us inwardly; otherwise, its meaning remains empty despite the external celebrations.”

At the conclusion of his December 17 general audience, Pope Leo XIV recommended Confession in preparation for Christmas and praised the custom of the Christmas novena.

“Peace exists; it wants to dwell within us,” Pope Leo XIV writes in his message for the 59th annual World Day of Peace.

In a Vatican News interview, Bishop Hicks said: “All I want to do is God’s will, and however God moves me to be a leader in New York, I want to follow that and just give all of my mind, heart, and soul.”

The Catholic bishops of New York quickly responded with a statement saying that assisted suicide is a “grave moral evil,” and “in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life.”

Governor Hochul, a graduate of Catholic University, said that her choice to sign the legislation—making New York the 13th state to allow assisted suicide—was “an incredibly difficult decision.”

WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has appointed as Bishop of Monterey, the Most Reverend Ramón Bejarano, currently Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego. The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on December 17, 2025, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The Diocese of Monterey is comprised of 21,916 square miles in the State of California and has a total population of 1,042,464, of which 368,150, are Catholic.

###