Vatican City, Sep 15, 2015 / 08:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced today that Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has been selected as the new head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese.

Announced in a Sept. 15 communique from the Vatican, Bishop Johnston’s nomination falls just five months after the diocese’s former bishop, Robert W. Finn, stepped down after becoming first U.S. bishop convicted of a misdemeanor in failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest in his diocese.