Archbishop Gomez was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) during the bishops’ annual fall General Assembly today in Baltimore. He was elected to a three-year term and succeed Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who was elected USCCB president today. The new president and vice president’s terms begin at the conclusion of the General Assembly, November 16.

Several committee leaders were also elected during the annual assembly, including Bishop Robert Barron, Auxiliary Bishop for the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, who will lead the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis.

The following stories from various Catholic news outlets provide more details about the USCCB election.

Below is a statement from Archbishop Gomez on the election:

Statement on Election as Vice President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Most Reverend José H. Gomez

Archbishop of Los Angeles

Baltimore, Maryland

November 15, 2016

I am honored and humbled by this election. And I am grateful to my brother bishops for their confidence in me.

This is really about the whole family of God in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, not only me. I think this is recognition that the Church is alive and growing in Los Angeles and that we are doing great things in spreading the Gospel and serving our brothers and sisters in need.

I also think this is a recognition of how important Latino Catholics are to the growth and the future of the Church.

So I look forward to working with my friend, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, and all my brother bishops, to serve the family of God here in the United States.

I am especially looking forward to working on the Fifth Encuentro and the Convocation on the Joy of the Gospel in the Americas. Both of these initiatives will bring great blessings to our Church and will help us to inspire and raise up a new generation of missionary disciples.

It is also a joy and a blessing that my brother, Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, was elected today to be the chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis. I am happy for him and I know he will help the bishops do great things to advance the Church’s mission.

These are challenging times for the Church in our society. But we go with God and every Catholic knows that we have a great mission — to share the good news about God and to tell our brothers and about his mercy and his beautiful plan for our lives and our world.

We also need to continue our important work so that our society respects the sanctity and dignity of every human person — from the child in the womb, to the immigrant who does not have “papers,” to the elderly and the terminally ill.

So I am entrusting everything to Our Lady of Guadalupe and I am grateful for this chance to proclaim the joy of the Gospel and help build God’s Kingdom here in the United States and throughout the Americas.