WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis has named Bishop Neil E. Tiedemann as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York.

The appointment was announced April 29 in Washington by Msgr. Walter Erbi, charge d'affairs of the nunciature in the United States.

Bishop Tiedemann, 68, has been bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica, since 2008. He is a member of the Passionists and was ordained in 1975.

He has served at parishes in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well as in Honduras from 1987 to 1994 and again from 2005 to 2006, as well as Jamaica.

In fact, Bishop Tiedemann, who was born in Brooklyn, has served in two Jamaicas: the one in the Caribbean and the one in the New York City borough of Queens, which is also home to St. John's University. He had served as associate pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish for seven years after his ordination to the priesthood. During that time, then-Father Tiedemann also worked for Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens.

"We in the Diocese of Brooklyn are delighted to welcome home Bishop Neil Tiedemann," said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn in an April 29 statement. "The Passionist Fathers in general, and Bishop Tiedemann in particular, minister especially to those who find themselves in the midst of suffering. He has the heart of Christ."

Born on March 5, 1948, Bishop Tiedemann entered the Passionists in 1970 and made perpetual vows in 1974. His pastoral work in the United States included two separate stints at St. Joseph's Passionist Parish in Union City, New Jersey; Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, Massachusetts; Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brooklyn. He was appointed the bishop of Mandeville by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.