Pope Francis Accepts Resignation of Archbishop Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City and Appoints Bishop McKnight as Successor

Pope Francis Accepts Resignation of Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas; Appoints Bishop W. Shawn McKnight as Successor
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, 75, from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, and has appointed Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, as his successor.

April 8, 2025
WASHINGTON – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, 75, from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, and has appointed Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, as his successor.
The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C. on April 8, 2025, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas is comprised of 12,524 square miles in the State of Kansas and has a total population of 1,404,470, of which 178,561, are Catholic.

USCCB Release

BIOGRAPHY Bishop McKnight was born in 1968 in Wichita, KS, and graduated from the University of Dallas in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry. Following his admission as a seminarian, he graduated from the Pontifical College Josephinum Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, with a Master of Arts in Theology and a Master of Divinity degrees.  He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Wichita on May 28, 1994. In May of 2008, he was appointed pastor once again in Wichita before his appointment to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in July 2010, serving as the Executive Director of the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, until his appointment as Pastor of Church of the Magdalen in Wichita in July 2015. On November 21, 2017, Pope Francis named him the fourth Bishop of Jefferson City, and he was ordained and installed on February 6, 2018. Following his first pastoral assignment as an associate pastor, he was sent to Rome for studies in sacramental theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm where he successfully defended a dissertation in 2001 for a Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.). Following his doctoral studies, he served as a pastor, a chaplain and visiting scholar at Newman University, Wichita, and as the Director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese. In July of 2003 he was appointed to the faculty at the Pontifical College Josephinum where he taught graduate courses in liturgy, homiletics and dogma.  While on the faculty, he served in the administrative positions of Director of Liturgy, Dean of Students, Director of Formation in the school of theology, and Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations.

https://archkck.org/archbishop-designate-profile/

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann wrote on Facebook:
Dear friends, I would like to offer a very warm welcome to Bishop W. Shawn McKnight, who was appointed archbishop-designate of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas this morning by Pope Francis. I am excited for Archbishop-designate McKnight, who is currently serving the Diocese of Jefferson City, to meet the wonderful people of northeast Kansas!

I am filled with gratitude that I was given the gift to be able to serve here as archbishop for the past two decades. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support throughout these 20 years!

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Image Source FB linked above