On Wednesday, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop R. Walker Nickless from pastoral governance of the diocese and appointed the Rev. John E. Keehner, Jr., a priest from Ohio.

The appointment of a new bishop is not a surprise, because Nickless had reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 about two years ago.

Keehner is a priest of the Diocese of Youngstown and currently serves as pastor of four parishes in Ashtabula County, Ohio.

Keehner, 59, studied at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, where he received his bachelor’s degree in English. He also studied at St. Mary’s of the West Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he received a master of divinity and a master of arts in biblical studies. He also received a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St.Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 12, 1993.

Keehner said he is “truly humbled” by the appointment by the pope.

Keehner will be ordained and installed as bishop at 2 p.m. May 1 at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

Nickless was named the seventh bishop in the 108th year history of the Diocese of Sioux City on Nov. 10, 2005. His selection was one of the first appointments made by Pope Benedict XVI.

Nickless was formally installed and ordained as bishop on Jan. 20, 2006, in a ceremony at the Church of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ in Sioux City.