SW News: Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Tuesday. Archbishop Gomez succeeds Cardinal Daniel Nicholas DiNardo. Gomez received 176 votes. Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron  was elected as USCCB vice-president for a term of three years.

“United with our Holy Father Pope Francis, I look forward to working with my brother bishops to inspire our Catholic people to follow Jesus Christ in holiness and love and to continue our mission of spreading the mercy of God and building his Kingdom on earth,” Archbishop Gomez said in a statement issued later on Tuesday after his election.

He entrusted the next three years to the maternal care of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Gomez is the first Latino leader of the United States bishops' conference.

Archbishop Jose Gomez has been serving as the Archbishop of Los Angeles since 2011. Gomez was born in Monterrey, Mexico and was ordained a priest of Opus Dei in the year 1978 by Cardinal Franz König. Later he studied theology at the University of Navarre in Spain. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Denver in 2001 and was appointed Archbishop of San Antonio in 2004.

Archbishop Jose Gomez is considered as a strong defender of traditional moral values, religious freedom and immigrant rights.