WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop William C. Skurla of the Byzantine Eparchy of Passaic, N.J., as archbishop of the Byzantine Archeparchy of Pittsburgh.

The 55-year-old will succeed Archbishop Basil M. Schott, who died in June 2010.

The appointment was announced Jan. 19 in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

His enthronement — as the Eastern Catholic installation ceremony is known — will take place April 18 in Pittsburgh.

The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh is the only self-governing Eastern Catholic Church in the United States, meaning it is directly under the authority of the pope rather than a Catholic patriarch in Eastern Europe or the Middle East. It stretches from Erie, Pa., to Texas and has 58,000 parishioners and 65 priests in 78 parishes.

The Pittsburgh Archeparchy is the metropolitan see for the three U.S. Byzantine dioceses — Passaic, Phoenix and Parma, Ohio.