Bishop Greg Bennet, the Bishop of Sale, has been elected the new vice-president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, succeeding Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, Archbishop of Perth, was also re-elected president of the Conference in the elections.
Archbishop Fisher had retired from the vice-president position after reaching the end of the maximum three, two-year terms.
The election was held on Friday, the first day of the May plenary of all Catholic bishops of Australia.
Bishop Bennet is the tenth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sale and was recently appointed by Pope Francis to the Dicastry for the Clergy in March 2023.
“I am pleased to have the opportunity to be vice-president to Archbishop Costelloe whose leadership within conference and broadly across the Church has been so clearly reaffirmed by his re-election,” Bishop Bennet said.
“I am humbled by my brother bishops who have elected me to this position of service to the Conference.
“And, while I am surprised, I will commit myself to the support of the important work of administration and pastoral mission supported by the conference and our various partners across the dioceses and agencies of the Church throughout Australia.”
Bishop Bennet has a Master of Science degree from Loyola College University in Baltimore (USA), undertook licentiate studies in Rome and completed a theology degree at the Melbourne College of Divinity.
He was ordained deacon in 1991 and priest in 1992 in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, serving in a number of parish and key archdiocesan roles.
In 2012 he was appointed Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
He was ordained bishop in December 2020. He chairs the national Bishops Commission for Professional Standards and Safeguarding.