NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times [New York NY]
December 18, 2025
By Elizabeth Dias and Maya King
The appointment of Bishop Ronald A. Hicks is expected to bring a markedly different leadership style to New York’s archdiocese.
Pope Leo XIV on Thursday named an Illinois bishop to replace the powerful conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan as leader of New York’s Roman Catholic archdiocese, a selection that signals his embrace of a more mild and unifying style after the political upheaval of Pope Francis’s papacy, while preserving the spirit of the late pope’s reforms.
The naming of Bishop Ronald A. Hicks to be the next Roman Catholic archbishop of New York is one of the most anticipated decisions of Pope Leo’s young papacy, his first major move indicating the direction he wants the church to take in his home country. Bishop Hicks is scheduled to be installed as archbishop on Feb. 6 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The appointment echoes Pope Leo’s own ascent earlier this year, the unexpected elevation of a little-known bishop from Chicago with a longtime focus on pastoral work and smooth governance.
Soft-spoken and steady, Bishop Hicks, 58, has led the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., since Pope Francis appointed him in 2020. The bishop has largely avoided outspoken politics, unlike Cardinal Dolan, who has boldly championed conservative causes, appeared often on Fox News and prayed at both of President Donald Trump’s inaugurations.
The choice suggests a significant shift in leadership style for New York’s archdiocese, the country’s second largest and one of its most influential, serving 2.5 million Catholics across the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island and several areas north of the city, according to statistics provided by the archdiocese. The selection also comes at a pivotal moment in the city’s political and religious life.
From his start early in the Obama era, Cardinal Dolan has called for Catholic leaders to become more politically involved amid national debates about abortion and same-sex marriage. He became a favorite of center-right Catholics, particularly after he fought the Obama administration’s rule requiring some religious groups to provide contraception for employees. Recently, he described the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk as “a modern-day Saint Paul.”
Cardinal Dolan turned 75 in February, the age when bishops formally submit their resignations to the pope for him to accept or ignore. But Pope Francis’ death and the following papal transition put many such major ecclesial changes on hold, leaving them for the new pontiff.
Bishop Hicks has advanced under the leadership of more progressive church leaders, including Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, an ally of Pope Francis who has prioritized immigrants and a welcoming stance toward L.G.B.T.Q. people. In Chicago before going to Joliet, Bishop Hicks served as an auxiliary bishop.
But in the diocese of Joliet, he also has found support from conservative priests and parishioners who observe the traditional Latin Mass, an old form of worship that Pope Francis attempted to discourage.
Before his election, Pope Leo led an influential Vatican post that selects and manages bishops globally. On a smaller scale, Bishop Hicks currently chairs the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee responsible for clergy and vocations, a position that helps bishops and priests navigate pastoral needs.
In June, Bishop Hicks helped organize a seminar at the University of Notre Dame to help newer bishops learn how to govern a diocese, with sessions on decision making, oversight and communications.
His pastoral messages, in English and in Spanish, have stressed the value of unity and the importance of peacemaking across divides and of listening to one another with respect.
“I’ve been told that I have a gentle spirit, yet I’m able to also be strong and to try to set vision and agendas,” Bishop Hicks once told a Catholic diocesan publication.
The high-profile nature of the position is a drastic change from the diocese of Joliet: With about 520,000 Catholics, it is just a quarter of the size of the archdiocese of New York. Being elevated from a small diocese to a major seat is fairly rare, especially after a relatively short tenure of about five years. The archbishop of New York is historically also elevated to become a cardinal, the church’s top clerical position below the pope.
The change in leadership also comes as the church is speaking out vocally in support of immigrants under deportation threat.
New York, which is home to one of the nation’s largest immigrant populations, has contended with a marked increase in immigration enforcement activity, and parts of the city have been scouted as possible detention centers. Though houses of worship have long been considered off limits for immigration enforcement, clergy have been under outsize pressure to protect their congregations. Catholic leaders have been particularly critical of the Trump administration’s crackdowns.
Zohran Mamdani, who will be the city’s first Muslim mayor on Jan. 1, met with Cardinal Dolan this fall, shortly before the November mayoral election.
Cardinal Dolan, who was appointed to lead the archdiocese of New York by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, has held the position through some of the city’s most tumultuous eras. The cardinal has wielded particular influence over the church’s real estate holdings and archdiocesan schools, in part to help fund the church’s legal defense against sexual assault claims. He was made a cardinal in 2012.
Last week, Cardinal Dolan said that the archdiocese would raise at least $300 million to settle claims brought forth by more than 1,300 people who said they were sexually assaulted by priests and lay staff members. To raise the funds, the archdiocese has weighed selling some of its real estate holdings, including its First Avenue headquarters in Manhattan, which sold for more than $100 million last year.
Both Bishop Hicks and Pope Leo grew up in Chicago’s south suburbs — the bishop at 155th and Woodlawn, and the pope seven minutes’ drive north at 141st and Indiana. They each spent years in Latin America as missionaries.
But they did not meet until last year, when Cardinal Robert F. Prevost spoke at an Illinois parish before he became Pope Leo, Bishop Hicks later told a local television station. They celebrated Mass together at an event with the Midwest Augustinians, the Pope’s home order.
As a priest in El Salvador, Bishop Hicks led Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, an organization that cares for orphaned children in nine Latin American countries. His favorite saint is Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero, the Salvadoran who championed the poor and was assassinated as he said Mass in 1980.
On Christmas Day three years ago, Bishop Hicks visited inmates at the Joliet Treatment Center. Last month, he returned and baptized four.
This understated leadership style reflects Pope Leo’s own sensibilities.
“I really, as the shepherd of the entire diocese, have to take a number of voices and perspectives and opinions all into context,” Bishop Hicks said in a video for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops last year. “The way to remedy that is surround myself with some really good people and try to collaborate and get the best advice and never make decisions just on my own.”
But unlike Pope Leo, Bishop Hicks roots for the Chicago Cubs, not the White Sox.
Alain Delaquérière contributed research.A correction was made on Dec. 18, 2025:
An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to areas within the archdiocese. It oversees parishes in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island, as well as in areas north of New York City, but not in Brooklyn or Queens.
Elizabeth Dias is The Times’s national religion correspondent, covering faith, politics and values.
Maya King is a Times reporter covering New York politics.