By choosing a staunch same-sex marriage foe as the new archbishop of San Francisco, the Vatican has laid bare a rift among local Catholics, some of whom strongly support the Church’s position while others emphatically don’t.
Salvatore Cordileone played a key role in the passage of Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California. The Vatican on Friday named him to replace San Francisco’s current archbishop, George Niederauer, in October.