Pope Leo XIV names Prince Albert bishop as new archbishop of Edmonton

Archbishop-Designate Stephen A. Hero, pictured in a supplied photo. (Source: The Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton)

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a new Archbishop of Edmonton.

The Most Reverend Stephen A. Hero, bishop of Prince Albert, Sask., was announced as Edmonton’s eighth bishop on Friday.

“I am very humbled and grateful for the trust placed in me to take up this new mission in the Church, and to serve in a community that is so close to my heart,” Archbishop-Designate Hero wrote in a letter to the Edmonton Archdiocese.

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Archbishop-Designate Hero was born in Quebec.

He was raised in Edmonton from the age of 10 and was ordained as a priest for the city’s Archdiocese in 2000. He served in several parishes and as Vocations Director before being named Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, located in Edmonton’s river valley.

Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Prince Albert in 2021.

“There is a river that flows from Edmonton to Prince Albert that will always be a sign to me of the connection between us,” Archbishop-Designate Hero wrote in a letter to the Prince Albert Diocese.

Archbishop-Designate Hero will be installed as Edmonton’s eighth bishop on Jan. 23, 2026, at St. Joseph’s Basilica on Jasper Avenue.