Bishop Edward Braxton

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Pope Francis has picked a Chicago-area priest as the next bishop of the Catholic Diocese in southern Illinois.

The Rev. Michael McGovern follows Bishop Edward Braxton, who is retiring as leader of the 28-county Belleville Diocese.

McGovern lately has been the pastor at St. Raphael the Archangel in Old Mill Creek in Lake County, a rural community near the Wisconsin border. McGovern has had other parish assignments as well as leadership roles in the Chicago Archdiocese.