Overview
- Multiple outlets report Pope Leo XIV could accept Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s retirement this week, with a successor named as early as Thursday, Dec. 18, though no Vatican bulletin has been issued.
- Those reports identify Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet as the leading candidate to become New York’s next archbishop, citing unnamed church sources and social-media posts.
- Dolan submitted his resignation in February upon turning 75, the age required by canon law, after serving as New York’s archbishop since 2009.
- Hicks, 58, was appointed Joliet’s bishop in 2020 after service in the Chicago archdiocese, and he is noted for Midwestern ties and Spanish fluency.
- The incoming leader would face heavy legal and fiscal liabilities, including more than 1,300 clergy abuse claims, budget cuts, layoffs, and property deals such as the $490 million land sale beneath the Lotte New York Palace Hotel and a planned $100 million headquarters sale.