VATICAN CITY (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II on Tuesday appointed the bishop of Las Vegas to head the diocese of Santa Rosa, California, nearly a year after the former bishop resigned in the midst of a sexual and financial scandal.

    Bishop Daniel Walsh, who was ordained a priest in San Francisco, will succeed Bishop Patrick Ziemann, who resigned last July. The appointment follows an apology by Bishop Ziemann in a letter read in Santa Rosa parishes last weekend.

    "I acknowledge with deep regret my responsibility for the current state of affairs about which you are justly angry," Ziemann said in his first public comment since he resigned.

    Ziemann resigned after admitting to having had sex with a priest of his diocese after the priest filed a lawsuit against him. Administrators from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which had taken over control of the diocese until a new bishop was appointed, also found Ziemann had mismanaged $16 million in diocesan funds earmarked for local parishes and schools.

    Bishop Walsh was the first bishop of Las Vegas after it was established as a separate diocese five years ago.