NEW YORK (NY)
Times Herald-Record [Middletown NY]
December 18, 2025
By Alexandra Rivera
Pope Leo XIV has accepted Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s resignation after 16 years of leading the Archdiocese of New York and announced Bishop Ron Hicks, 58, of Joliet, Illinois, to be his successor.
Hicks, hailing from the same state as the first-ever elected U.S.-born Pope, will soon step into one of the largest and most public-facing roles in the American Catholic Church, as the second-largest Archdiocese in the country.
Hicks has been the leader of the Church in Joliet, seat of Will County in Illinois, since2020. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop, or deputy, under Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich.
“Hicks represents not just a new chapter for New York but for the American church as a whole,” said David Gibson, a U.S. Church expert.
Why did Cardinal Dolan resign?
Dolan confirmed he had submitted a letter of resignation to the late Pope Francisfollowing his 75th birthday back in February.
Francis had made the resignations of Cardinals mandatory at the age of 75 in 2014, but with a shortage of priests and ordained personnel in the Catholic Church, many Cardinals are allowed to serve past their terms depending on when the Holy See accepts.
“You have to submit your letter of resignation,” Dolan told The Catholic Channel on New York’s Sirius XM in February. “Usually, the Holy See would ask you to stay until your successor is appointed, and you don’t know when that will be.”
Dolan became the Cardinal of the Archdiocese of New York in 2009, replacing the former Cardinal Edward Egan’s seat at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.
The leadership change comes as the archdiocese is seeking $300 million to settle over1,300 claims of child sex abuse by priests and other Catholic Church staff. Several churches in the Lower Hudson Valley and across the state have filed for bankruptcy or sold their properties to make up for the money.
“As we have repeatedly acknowledged, the sexual abuse of minors long ago has brought shame upon our church,” Dolan said Monday, according to the New York Post. “I once again ask forgiveness for the failing of those who betrayed the trust placed in them by failing to provide for the safety of our young people.”
The Archdiocese of New York has not yet responded to comments regarding the retirement or replacement claims.
Contributing: lohud’s Nancy Cutler