Belmont Native Selected by Pope Francis to Lead Maine Diocese

Belmont-native Rev. Robert Deeley was selected by Pope Francis this week to shepherd Maine's 188,000 Roman Catholics.  

The 67-year-old Boston auxiliary bishop, who will become the Portland diocese's 12th bishop, told the Boston Herald that he's beginning his new ministry the same way the Holy See did — by asking for prayers.

"My first request of you ... is that you pray for me, that I might be worthy of the responsibility that is given me, and that I might be able to unite us as God's people doing the work of the Lord," he said.

Deeley's installation is scheduled for Feb. 14 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Maine.

Deeley was ordained as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston in January.

One of five sons of Irish immigrants, Deeley was born in Cambridge and raised in Belmont. He studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1973 at Sacred Heart Parish in Watertown.