Early life James Checchio was born on April 21, 1966, in
Camden, New Jersey to James and Helen Checchio. He attended St. John School in Collingwood, New Jersey, then
Paul VI High School in Haddon Township, New Jersey. After his high school graduation in 1984, Cheechio entered the
University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 1988. Offering himself as a candidate for the priesthood, Checchio was sent to study at the
Pontifical North American College while taking a theology degree at the
Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. He received a
Licentiate in Canon Law in 1993.
Priesthood Checchio was ordained a priest by Bishop
James McHugh for the
Diocese of Camden on June 20, 1992, at the
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden. After his 1992 ordination, the diocese assigned Cheechio to the following positions in New Jersey parishes: • associate priest at St. Peter Parish in
Merchantville (1992 to 1993) • parochial vicar at St. Agnes Parish in
Blackwood (1993 to 1995) • associate priest at St. Peter Celestine Parish in
Cherry Hill (1996)
Vice Rector and Rector of the North American College Checchio left Camden for Rome in 2004 after being named as vice rector at the
Pontifical North American College. On December 12, 2005, the oversight board for the college appointed him as rector. He would serve in this position for the next five years. Checchio's
episcopal consecration took place on May 3, 2016, at the Church of the Sacred Heart in
South Plainfield, New Jersey. The principal consecrator was Archbishop
John J. Myers; the co-consecrators were Bootkoski and Bishop
Dennis J. Sullivan. In August 2018, Checchio said that he was "saddened and ashamed" by the reports of child sexual abuse by
Theodore McCarrick, a former bishop of Metuchen. Checchio referred to McCarrick's acts as atrocities. The Vatican laicized McCarrick in February 2019. In 2021, Checchio condemned the abuse of inmates at the
Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, by some
correctional officers.
Archbishop of New Orleans On September 24, 2025, Checchio was appointed
Coadjutor Archbishop of the
Archdiocese of New Orleans by
Pope Leo XIV. On February 11, 2026, the Pope accepted the resignation of
Gregory Michael Aymond, and Checchio became the next archbishop. ==See also==