Cardinal Timothy Dolan is taking his leave of the Archdiocese of New York.
The 75-year-old native of St. Louis, Missouri has led the archdiocese and its estimated 2.8 million Catholics since being appointed by Pope Benedict in 2009.
Dolan's successor also hails from the nation's heartland. Bishop Ronald Hicks, currently head of the diocese of Joliet, Illinois, will be installed as the eleventh Archbishop of New York on February 6, 2026.
Cardinal Dolan will continue in his leadership role in the interim.
As with Pope Leo, who has selected Bishop Hicks, the new archbishop is a native of Chicago. Hicks is 58.
And in common with Pope Leo Hicks has previously worked as a missionary in Latin America. Leo worked in Peru and Hicks was a missionary in El Salvador.
During his years as archbishop Cardinal Dolan, who succeeded Cardinal Edward Egan, was a prominent figure in a number of areas.
Always proud of his Irish American heritage Dolan took a prominent stand backing the ultimately failed campaign to prevent the deportation of Belfast native Malachy McAllister.
Earlier this year Dolan - who annually greeted marchers in the New York City Saint Patrick's Day Parade outside St. Patrick's Cathedral - was himself the Grand Marshal of the White Plains parade.
