US EditionPope Leo appoints former migrant who entered US without legal status to lead West Virginia Catholics
The appointment highlights his ministry to migrants and marginalized communities as the diocese prepares for a transition in leadership.
- On May 1, Pope Leo XIV accepted Bishop Mark E. Brennan's resignation and appointed Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Menjivar-Ayala will be installed July 2, overseeing about 61,000 Catholics across West Virginia.
- Born in El Salvador, Menjivar-Ayala fled civil war as a teenager, arriving in the United States in 1990 after multiple attempts to enter. He became a U.S. citizen in 2006 and made history as the first Salvadoran bishop in the country in 2023.
- This appointment follows high-profile tension between Pope Leo and President Donald Trump over immigration and Middle East policies. Some reports frame the selection as a direct Vatican message regarding immigration, while others emphasize the Pope's general policy criticism.
- During a recent news conference, Menjivar-Ayala committed to listening to "the poor, the workers, and the immigrants" as his ministry begins. He expressed hope that West Virginians would eventually accept him as a "fellow West Virginian."
- The Vatican has increasingly appointed bishops with refugee backgrounds, including Pope Leo's 2025 selection of Michael Pham as bishop of San Diego. This trend signals a broader papal strategy prioritizing leadership experienced in serving marginalized communities.
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The appointment is also seen by many as a sign against US President Donald Trump's migration policy.
Leo XIV does not agree at all with the Trump administration's action against migrants. Now the first Pope from the USA makes a man there a bishop who once came illegally into the country.
Pope Leo XIV appoints Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, who came to the United States illegally as a refugee from El Salvador in 1990, Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston.
Hidden in a trunk, he once fled El Salvador to the United States. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala now becomes the new bishop in West Virginia.
Charleston Gazette-Mail
The Herald-DispatchFormer Salvadoran refugee named new bishop of Wheeling-Charleston Diocese
Pope Leo XIV has accepted the retirement of the Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, 79, as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, which serves Catholics across all of West Virginia. Pope Leo has appointed the Most Rev. Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, an auxiliary bishop of Washington, as Brennan’s successor. The announcement was made on May 1, 2026.
Pope Leo XIV has named former refugee Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as bishop of the U.S. state of West Virginia, taking over the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Menjivar-Ayala was born in El Salvador and moved to the United States in 1990.
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