James F. Checchio

James Francis Checchio (born April 21, 1966) is an American Catholic prelate serving as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans since 2026. He previously served as Bishop of Metuchen from 2016 to 2025 and as rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome from 2005 until 2016.

Biography Early life 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 The Pontifical North American College in Rome, where Checchio was vice-rector from 2004 until he was elected rector from 2005 to 2016, when he became Bishop of Metuchen. 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.