{"id":280411,"date":"2026-05-22T04:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280411\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T04:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:20:09","slug":"bishop-of-pensacola-tallahassee-diocese-dies-at-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280411\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese dies at 86"},"content":{"rendered":"

Video above: \u2018News 5 Now\u2019 \u2014 Top Stories from May 21, 2026<\/p>\n

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG<\/a>) \u2014 The Catholic community of Northwest Florida is in mourning after the fourth-ever Bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee passed away.<\/p>\n

Two Mobile County lynching victims honored in Prichard <\/a><\/p>\n

According to a news release, the Most Rev. John H. Ricard, SSJ, died on Wednesday, May 20, at 86.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the longest tenured bishop for our diocese and my predecessor, I looked to him as a mentor and brother who was always available to give me advice and support,\u201d Bishop William A. Wack, CSC, said. \u201cI am deeply grateful for his leadership and vision, which has set us on a firm foundation as a local church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Ricard was a Gulf Coast native, born in Baton Rouge in February of 1940. After he graduated from high school, he joined the St. Joseph\u2019s Society of the Sacred Heart.<\/p>\n

He became an ordained priest in 1968, received his master\u2019s degree in 1970, and his doctoral degree in 1984.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pope St. John Paul II named him the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in 1997. During his time as bishop, he oversaw the construction and opening of the Monsignor James Amos Pastoral Center and Jon Paul II Catholic School.<\/p>\n

In December 2009, Bishop Ricard had a severe stroke. Pope Benedict XVI granted his retirement on March 11, 2011.<\/p>\n

Mobile home burned down in West Mobile, explosions heard during fire <\/a><\/p>\n

He will be buried in St. Michael\u2019s Cemetery in Pensacola.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Video above: \u2018News 5 Now\u2019 \u2014 Top Stories from May 21, 2026 PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) \u2014 The Catholic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[119600,119602,119601,109294,119599,842,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-280411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-bishop-of-the-diocese-of-pensacola-tallahassee","tag-bishop-ricard","tag-catholic-community","tag-diocese-of-pensacola-tallahassee","tag-john-h-ricard","tag-northwest-florida","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}