{"id":74891,"date":"2025-12-18T22:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74891\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T22:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:04:17","slug":"pope-leo-appoints-a-pro-migrant-ny-archbishop-amid-trump-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74891\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo Appoints a Pro-Migrant NY Archbishop Amid Trump Crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo has appointed Bishop Ronald Hicks to replace Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a friend of President Donald Trump who has served in the position since 2009, as New York\u2019s newest archbishop, a major shake-up in the country\u2019s Catholic leadership that appears to continue the pontiff\u2019s pushback<\/a> against Trump\u2019s aggressive immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s decision to appoint Hicks, who has endorsed criticism of the treatment of migrants under the Trump Administration, aligns with the Pope\u2019s own increasingly vocal defenses of migrants\u2019 rights amid the President\u2019s intensifying enforcement campaign across the U.S. <\/p>\n

Hicks referred to the \u201cgreat heart\u201d he has for the Latino community at a press conference in New York after the Vatican\u2019s Thursday announcement of his appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really formed by the Latino church,\u201d said the bishop, who served in El Salvador for years leading a church-run program that provides support for orphaned children. \u201cAnd I have a great heart for the Latino community. And so we have someone who not only speaks Spanish but understands that this community is a vital part of the church. And I think what you’re going to see is that I love all people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: Pope Leo Is Becoming Increasingly Vocal About Defending Immigrants From Trump\u2019s Crackdown<\/a><\/p>\n

Dolan, who received Trump\u2019s praise<\/a> as a potential candidate for the papacy earlier this year, has been a prominent conservative in the country\u2019s Catholic leadership and supportive of the President. On immigration in particular, though, he has at times been critical of Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance\u2019s rhetoric and advocated<\/a> this year in favor of a less hard-line and more \u201cunifying\u201d approach involving both increased border security and \u201csound, fair, and benevolent immigration reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolan offered to resign in February from his post in New York after turning 75, which is a requirement under Church law, though many Cardinals continue to serve until the mandatory retirement age of 80. A bishop\u2019s resignation is reviewed by the Pope, who can then decide whether to accept the submission.<\/p>\n

Hicks is to be installed as New York\u2019s archbishop on Feb. 6, the archdiocese said in a statement<\/a>. Dolan will remain as an interim leader until then.<\/p>\n

Dolan announced<\/a> earlier this month that the archdiocese would set up a $300 million fund to settle around <\/a>1,300 outstanding sexual abuse claims against priests and other staff members, saying it had reduced its operating budget and staff and would raise further money by selling off some assets.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know about the outgoing and incoming archbishops of New York.<\/p>\n

Who is Timothy Dolan?<\/p>\n

Dolan was named archbishop of New York by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 after previously serving as the archbishop of Milwaukee. Since his appointment in New York he has also served as president of the U.S. Catholic Bishop\u2019s conference, from 2010 to 2013, and was named a cardinal in 2012, participating in the papal conclaves in which both Pope Francis and Pope Leo were selected.<\/p>\n

Dolan has been vocal on politics, becoming known for his conservative views. He delivered an invocation at Trump\u2019s second inauguration and was appointed by the President to his Religious Liberty Commission<\/a> this spring. Later in the year, Dolan praised the late right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk as a \u201cmodern-day St. Paul,\u201d which drew pushback from other religious figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the archbishop of New York, he has hosted the Al Smith<\/a> charity dinner, an annual event which raises millions for Catholic charities and traditionally invites presidential candidates from both parties to speak in election years. During last year\u2019s dinner, Trump dug into his then-opponent Kamala Harris, who declined her invitation, and other Democrats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump referred to Dolan during a conference call with other Catholic leaders in 2020 as a \u201cgreat gentleman\u201d and \u201ca great friend of mine,\u201d sentiments the archbishop said were \u201cmutual.\u201d The same year, he spoke about Trump\u2019s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, \u201cI really salute his leadership\u201d and that \u201cthe President has seemed particularly sensitive to the, what shall I say, to the feelings of the religious community,\u201d in comments that drew criticism from other religious leaders.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Dolan wrote<\/a> a column for the Wall Street Journal with the headline \u201cThe Democrats Abandon Catholics\u201d in which he criticized the party\u2019s support for abortion rights.<\/p>\n

He has been critical of both parties when it comes to immigration, however, saying in an op-ed<\/a> for the New York Daily News over the summer that neither \u201chas a particularly sterling record\u201d on the issue. He suggested that ground for unity and bipartisan agreement could be found, outlining a vision for reform. \u201cProtect our borders! For sure! Repair a broken policy? You bet! Hunt down and send cut-throats and dangerous criminals back? Yes!\u201d he wrote. \u201cBut change our long and cherished tradition of safely welcoming immigrants and refugees? No! Indiscriminate mass deportation of our law abiding, industrious, dutiful neighbors only recently arrived? Please, no!\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is Ronald Hicks?<\/p>\n

Like Pope Leo, a Chicago native who this year became the first American to lead the Catholic church, Hicks is from Illinois. He was born in 1967 in Harvey, Illinois, and grew up in South Holland, not far from the Chicago suburb where Leo lived as a child.<\/p>\n

Also like Leo, who served as a missionary in Peru for 20 years, Hicks spent years working in Latin America, leading the Nuestros Peque\u00f1os Hermanos organization that cares for orphans in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries for five years as a priest in El Salvador.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He met Leo in 2024 at one of Hick\u2019s parishes, where the then-Cardinal Robert Prevost took questions in front of the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFive minutes turned into 10 minutes and the 10 minutes turned into 15 and the 15 turned into 20,\u201d Hicks told Chicago WGN-TV news about their first meeting following Leo\u2019s May election as Pope. \u201cWe grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, like the same pizza places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks was a parish priest in Chicago and the dean of Mundelein Seminary. He was then made vicar general of the archdiocese in 2015 by the Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. In 2020, Pope Francis named him bishop of Joliet, Illinois, where he served roughly 520,000 Catholics in seven counties.<\/p>\n

Hicks has been less vocal about politics than Dolan. But last month, he released a statement<\/a> supporting a message<\/a> released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that pronounced its opposition to \u201cthe indiscriminate mass deportation of people\u201d and said the bishops were \u201cdisturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks described the message, which highlighted immigrants\u2019 \u201cenormous contributions to the well-being of our nation,\u201d as \u201cpowerful and unified.\u201d<\/p>\n

He again offered support for the message at the Thursday press conference, saying the U.S. should \u201cbe a country that upholds human dignity, respect, treating each other well, and making sure that anything connected to these policies are connected to due process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo has appointed Bishop Ronald Hicks to replace Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a friend of President Donald Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,5296,7675],"class_list":{"0":"post-74891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news","11":"tag-news-desk","12":"tag-religion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}