The Vatican reportedly announced Thursday that it has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan and appointed Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, as the next archbishop of New York, ushering in a new chapter for one of the most prominent Catholic dioceses in the United States.
Hicks, 58, will succeed Dolan, who has led the Archdiocese of New York since 2009. With the appointment, Hicks becomes the fourteenth bishop and the eleventh archbishop to oversee the archdiocese. Dolan submitted his mandatory letter of resignation earlier this year after turning 75 in February, as required under Church law.
Despite the announcement, Dolan will not immediately step aside. He will continue to lead the archdiocese as apostolic administrator until Hicks formally assumes his new role on Feb. 6, 2026, during an installation Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The ceremony will be presided over by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Dolan reflected warmly on the transition at a press conference, expressing both gratitude and emotion. “The last week since I found out, I’ve gotten to know him,” Dolan said of Hicks. “And I already love him and appreciate him and trust him.” While acknowledging sadness at leaving a diocese he deeply loves, Dolan said that feeling is “mitigated by the gift that this new archbishop already is.”
Dolan recently played a role in the global Church, having participated in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV in May. He also took part in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis.
Hicks brings a diverse pastoral and leadership background to New York. He grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994. After early parish assignments, he moved into seminary leadership and later spent five years in El Salvador as a regional director for Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, a Catholic charitable organization. He returned to Illinois in 2015 and was named vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Pope Francis appointed Hicks auxiliary bishop in 2018, and he became bishop of the Diocese of Joliet in 2020. Within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Hicks currently chairs the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations and serves on the Episcopal Advisory Board for the Catholic Leadership Institute.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Hicks expressed humility and gratitude for the appointment. “I would like to simply begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to Pope Leo the 14th for this appointment,” he said.
He described his faith in deeply personal terms. “If you want to know the core of who I am and what I stand for, you should know this: I love Jesus with my mind, heart, and soul, and I strive to love my neighbor as myself,” Hicks said. He added that he accepts the role with humility and asked for prayers and support as he prepares to lead the archdiocese.
Asked about immigration and New York’s large Latino community, Hicks said he agrees with the USCCB’s recent statement emphasizing both border security and the need to treat migrants with dignity and respect under due process.
Hicks has also spoken warmly about his relationship with Pope Leo XIV, noting their shared roots in the Chicago area. “He’s a normal guy from a normal neighborhood we grew up in,” Hicks told WGN Chicago. “We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, liked the same pizza places. It’s that real.”
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