Pope Leo Picks Ex-Illegal Immigrant To Lead Red State Diocese

Pope Leo XIV generated controversy within the United States on Friday when he appointed Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala — a former illegal alien by way of El Salvador — as the new bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, which encompasses the entire state of West Virginia. Menjivar-Ayala, 55, currently serves as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. He succeeds Bishop Mark Brennan, who has led the diocese since 2019. The appointment was announced by the Vatican, and Menjivar-Ayala is scheduled to be installed on July 2. Menjivar-Ayala was born in El Salvador and fled the country as a teenager in the late 1980s amid its civil war and conditions of extreme poverty. In 1990, after multiple unsuccessful attempts to reach the United States — including being detained by Me