Vietnamese refugee, a former Vatican official, named Arizona bishop

December 23, 2025

Pope Leo XIV has named Msgr. Peter Dai Bui, a Vietnamese refugee to the United States and a former Vatican official, as auxiliary bishop of Phoenix, one of the nation’s largest dioceses.

Bui’s family fled Communist oppression in Vietnam in 1977, when Bui was seven, and settled in New Orleans. He entered the Legionaries of Christ, professed his vows in 2001, and was ordained to the priesthood in 2003. After ministry in Venezuela and Phoenix, he left the Legionaries and became a priest of the Diocese of Phoenix in 2009. From 2011 to 2016, he was an official of the former Pontifical Council Cor Unum; since 2022, he has served as the Phoenix diocese’s vicar for clergy.

The Diocese of Phoenix has 2.01 million Catholics, 94 parishes, 136 active diocesan priests, and 41 seminarians, according to the 2025 edition of The Official Catholic Directory. A recent Catholic World Report analysis ranked the diocese 158th (out of 175) in fruitfulness.

 

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Further information:

• Resignations and Appointments, 19.12.2025
• Pope Leo XIV appoints new auxiliary bishop for Diocese of Phoenix (The Catholic Sun)