We don’t mean to imply by this headline that California Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, appointed today as Oakland’s new bishop, is any more exceptional than his brother bishops.

We do want to draw attention to one of Bishop Cordileone’s episcopal hallmarks, though: his strong support for celebration of the extraordinary form of the Mass in Latin.

Rocco Palmo reports on the matter in some detail here. We’ve also taken the liberty of re-posting Rocco’s photo of Oakland’s new shepherd, who previously served as auxiliary bishop of San Diego after returning to America following his service as a Vatican official.

Here is Rocco’s summation of Bishop Cordileone and of the photo:

“An especially outspoken supporter of California’s successful Proposition 8 (the state referendum banning same-sex ‘marriage’), the star canonist who came home from Rome as an auxiliary in 2002 has become a national name in Church circles both for his unstinting pro-life advocacy and, even more, his support for the Tridentine Mass — the appointee is shown at right wearing the mantelleta, the pre-conciliar garb of a titular bishop, before celebrating a November Requiem Mass in the ‘extraordinary form’ for a San Diego priest.”