Pope Leo XIV taps apolitical Illinois bishop to lead New York Archdiocese

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Ronald Hicks as the next archbishop of New York, plucking an apolitical administrator from his native Illinois to lead the nation’s most influential Catholic diocese.

The Vatican announced the appointment on Thursday shortly after noon Rome time, or 6 a.m. on the East Coast. An afternoon Mass of thanksgiving was planned for St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

“I have been deeply blessed to serve the people of the Diocese of Joliet,” Bishop Hicks said in a statement. “I will carry the faith, generosity, and the spirit of this diocese with me as I begin this new chapter of ministry.”

The Archdiocese of New York confirmed that the pope also accepted the age-mandated retirement of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a larger-than-life media figure who turned 75 in February.

“I am grateful to Pope Leo for appointing such a splendid priest and bishop to serve you, and have pledged to the archbishop-designate my fidelity and full cooperation, as he will now be my archbishop as well,” Cardinal Dolan said in a statement.

Since becoming New York’s archbishop in 2009, Cardinal Dolan has presided over a downsizing of parishes to fund multimillion-dollar payouts to clergy sex abuse survivors. He has also earned a reputation for defending conservative Catholic teachings with an upbeat style.

“Catholic New Yorkers appreciate him as an energetic leader for the archdiocese, but some also hoped for him to adopt Pope Francis’ more pastoral style and tone on divisive issues, which wasn’t always his instinctive inclination,” the Rev. Sam Sawyer, editor of Jesuit-run America magazine in Manhattan, said in a text message.

Father Sawyer said it’s significant that Pope Leo’s first major U.S. appointment “is someone who reflects his own history” as a Chicagoan who did missionary work in Latin America.

Archbishop-designate Hicks, 58, was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago and worked for a few years in Latin America. 

He was a seminary administrator under the late Cardinal Francis George, who led the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1997 to his death in 2014.

He later served for two years as an auxiliary bishop under Cardinal Blase Cupich before moving to neighboring Joliet in 2020.

Several Catholic church leaders described Bishop Hicks to The Washington Times as a competent administrator well-suited to New York’s problems.

They noted that while he appreciates tradition, he is less likely to take ideological sides than bishops appointed under previous popes.

“I think you’ll see in him a priest and a pastor who defies political characterization,” said Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, who attended seminary in the Chicago archdiocese with Bishop Hicks. “Just take the time to get to know him.”

The pope, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, has expressed a desire for unity since becoming the first American elected to lead the Catholic Church on May 8.

Insiders say the Hicks appointment suggests a quiet pivot away from ideological litmus tests for bishops under the traditionalist Pope Benedict XVI and the progressive Pope Francis, who alienated different segments of the U.S. church.

Former Rep. Daniel Lipinski, a pro-life Chicago Democrat who attends Mass in the Joliet diocese, said it would be wrong to view Bishop Hicks as a prelate in the mold of the Benedict-appointed Cardinal Dolan or the Francis-appointed Cardinal Cupich.

“It really bothers me that the right and left are making claims about who he is and what he’ll be like,” said Mr. Lipinski, a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution. “He speaks when he has something to say, but he’s not someone who steps forward on politics like Dolan or Cupich.”

Mr. Lipinski said that Bishop Hicks is “not really a political bishop,” despite putting out “a very good statement” praising the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned the national right to an abortion.

Lifelong New Yorker Kathryn Jean Lopez, a religion editor at the conservative National Review who chairs Cardinal Dolan’s Pro-Life Commission, said she expects continuity in the transition to Hicks.

“Cardinal Dolan points to Christ,” she said. “That’s what he’s about. And that’s what I expect we will see more of from his successor.”

U.S. Catholic sources leaked news of the appointment Monday night on X.com, citing a Spanish-language report. The Times confirmed the appointment through independent sources on Tuesday morning.

’Not too big to fail’

The leak prompted a flurry of competing social media narratives about the archbishop-designate’s politics as he prepares to lead New York City’s 2.8 million Catholics.

Progressives said his time in Latin America makes Hicks likely to support the immigration-friendly policies of Pope Francis, who died in March.

They described him as a protege of the Democrat-adjacent Cardinal Cupich, confirming the latter’s influence on the first American pope.

Parishioners in the Joliet diocese pushed back on this narrative, however. They noted that Bishop Hicks protected Latin Masses there from a purge under Pope Francis, demonstrating his care for traditionalists.

By comparison, the reigning archbishops of New York and Chicago have taken clear political sides in recent years.

Conservative Catholics and clergy led a protest against Cardinal Cupich in September for attempting to give a lifetime achievement award to retiring Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a pro-choice Illinois Democrat.

Pope Leo defended the cardinal’s leadership, but Mr. Durbin ultimately declined the award that would have recognized his immigration advocacy.

As archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan delivered the invocation at the Republican National Convention in 2020 and recently described the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a “modern-day St. Paul.”

Most recently, Cardinal Dolan announced a plan this month to sell off $300 million worth of properties in the Archdiocese of New York to fund payments to clergy sex abuse survivors.

The Rev. Robert McTeigue, a Catholic podcaster and former seminary professor for the Diocese of Buffalo in upstate New York, predicted that the sprawling New York metro area would challenge the new archbishop.

“The Archdiocese of New York is probably too large and complex for anyone to govern well,” Father McTeigue said in an email. “But it’s not too big to fail. I will pray for him.”