Local Roman Catholic Church gets new head

Pope Francis has appointed 58-year-old Kenneth David Oswin Richards as the new head of the Jamaican Roman Catholic Church.

He will be ordained as the seventh Archbishop of Kingston at a special service on July 6 at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity on North Street in Kingston.

Archbishop-elect Richards will succeed the now retired Archbishop Charles Dufour who had been leading the local church since 2011.

Bishop Richards hails from Linstead in St Catherine and is a past student of St Catherine High School.

He has been a priest for almost 31 years and bishop for just over four years.

Meanwhile, the Pope has transferred 68-year-old Bishop of Mandeville, Neil Tiedemann, to a senior post in the Church in Brooklyn, New York.