[ROCCO] PALMO: Well, this is easily the most significant appointment that the Vatican has made in the U.S. in the last 25 years. I mean, first off, L.A. is, by far, the largest diocese, five million Catholics. But Archbishop Gomez now essentially becomes someone who’s able to reach half of American Catholics, Hispanics, in a way that no leader of the American church has been able to do before.<\/p>\n
[AUDIE] CORNISH: Right. Hispanics make up more than half of that diocese alone.<\/p>\n
PALMO: Seventy percent, actually. It’s a staggering number. But Hispanics are also half of other major archdioceses like New York, Chicago, Atlanta, which is a rising diocese in the South. It’s been a staggering shift in the life of the American church.<\/p>\n
CORNISH: So, what does this appointment tell us about the state of relations between the Vatican and the Latino community in the U.S.?<\/p>\n
PALMO: Well, as I said to a family the other day, I think they just got a lot warmer.<\/p>\n