Canon Kevin Dunn, a 53-year-old from Newcastle-under-Lyme - "the other Newcastle" he said - is to be the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.

He will be responsible for 223,000 Catholics, 215 diocesan priests and almost 200 churches between Tweed and Tees. Canon Dunn succeeds the Right Reverend Ambrose Griffiths, 75, who retires to the parish of Leyland, Lancashire, which he left in 1992.

"They always said it was just a loan for 12 years," said Bishop Griffiths. "I will be an assistant priest with very little responsibility but hope for another ten to 15 years. It is time for a new and younger man to take over here."

The appointment was announced yesterday, only nine days after Canon Dunn, presently an episcopal vicar in the Birmingham area, had himself been informed of Papal interest.

The Vatican doesn't use the situations vacant columns.

"I was stunned and very surprised," he said, and admitted to taking an afternoon to read up about the northern saints.

Although his father grew up in Middlesbrough, the new bishop knows little of the North-East and promised first to listen and learn.

Bishop Griffiths, a former Abbot of Ampleforth in North Yorkshire, said that the "biggest sorrow" of his episcopacy had been that four diocesan priests had appeared in court for sex offences.

"It is an important burden, but you can only take action on those things you know about, and often you are the last to know."

His joys, he said, had been in the growth of lay involvement, especially in youth work.

Canon Bob Spence, a diocesan Vicar-General, praised Bishop Griffith's "openness, generosity and incredible energy".

Fr Michael Campion, Dean of St Mary's Cathedral in Newcastle, said he had brought "a most remarkable breath of fresh air" to the diocese. "He is modest, unassuming and totally devoid of pomp, a holy man in the best sense of the word."

Canon Dunn will be installed as Hexham and Newcastle's 12th bishop on May 25 - the Feast of St Bede and his late father's birthday.