05/11/2026
Today, our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has appointed Bishop Steven Lopes as Apostolic Administrator of the Ordinariate of the Southern Cross in Australia and Oceania. He remains our Bishop in the Ordinariate in North America and receives this new role in addition to that mandate.
Prior to today’s announcement, the Australian Ordinariate was led by Most Rev. Anthony Randazzo, the Bishop of Broken Bay (Australia) who, for the past several years, also served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Ordinariate. The appointment of Archbishop Randazzo to assist the work of the Universal Church as the Prefect of the Dicastery of Legislative Texts necessitates the appointment of a new shepherd for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross.
Upon receiving word of the appointment, Bishop Lopes said:
"Much like our own Ordinariate in North America, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross has a compelling story to tell about faith, evangelization, and the surpassing value of full communion. I have been privileged to come to know it over the years, and to see firsthand how its clergy and faithful contribute to the vitality of the Catholic Church in many ways.
With this appointment, I am privileged to take up the work of my friends and colleagues Monsignor Harry Entwistle, Monsignor Carl Reid, and Bishop Anthony Randazzo. Each has brought unique gifts to the leadership of the Ordinariate in Australia. I for one am not surprised that the Holy Father has called Archbishop Randazzo to service in the Universal Church. He has given the Ordinariate both the care of a pastor’s heart and a structure to enable its future growth. I am privileged to be its custodian for a while, encouraging its people to grow in the beauty of holiness as the surest means of growth and fruitfulness."
