As archbishop of New York for the past 16 years, Cardinal Timothy Dolan emerged as an American political influencer and Fox News favorite who publicly rejected Democrats and led the conservative Catholic embrace of Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
Now Pope Leo XIV, the first American spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, has chosen a very different kind of cleric to replace Dolan in American Catholicism’s highest-profile job as he puts his stamp on an American church rocked by Trump’s populist MAGA movement.
Analysts say the choice of Chicago native Ronald Hicks as Dolan’s successor is a clear sign of Pope Leo’s desire to reform the American church, which many progressive Catholics, including some in the Vatican, felt has aligned itself too closely with the Republican Party.
Many church members were surprised a few months ago when Dolan described slain conservative social media influencer and Trump supporter Charlie Kirk as a “modern-day St. Paul.”
“It is the end of an era,” said Massimo Fagioli, professor of theology at Trinity College Dublin. “President Trump has lost an ally… (Dolan) doesn’t even pretend he’s impartial. He makes clear that to him, the Democrats are the enemies of the Catholic Church and religion, and the Republicans are better.”
Like the Pope, Hicks, 58, comes from the American Catholic intellectual tradition that advocates a “coherent ethics” of life on a wide range of issues related to human dignity — and leaves much of what many see as conservative American clerics’ focus on abortion and sexual morality.
Hicks, who grew up near Pope Leo’s childhood home in Chicago and spent five years as a missionary in El Salvador before becoming bishop in Illinois, will take up his new role in February, when Dolan, whose resignation was accepted by the Pope last week, will formally step down.
John Allen Jr., author of several books on the contemporary Catholic Church, said of the appointment, “This is a huge move by Pope Leo.” “Leo is a centrist and liberal and he is looking for non-ideological pastors.”
The appointment comes as US Catholic clerics have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of Trump’s harsh anti-immigrant policies and harsh Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) round-ups that terrorize migrant communities.
“Let me be clear, the Church stands with immigrants,” Chicago Archbishop Blaise J. Cupich said recently. social media video“Americans must not forget that we all come from immigrant families,”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently issued a rare “special pastoral message” on immigration, condemning the “state of fear and anxiety” created by “indiscriminate” ICE raids and lamenting “the state of the contemporary debate and the stigmatization of immigrants.”
Cautious and soft-spoken, Pope Leo has never directly or personally criticized Trump, but he has expressed concern about the “inhumane treatment of immigrants” in the US. Like his predecessor Pope Francis, he has urged American church leaders to stand against harsh ICE round-ups and mass deportations.
The Vatican this month nominated Manuel de Jesus Rodriguez — a naturalized American who immigrated from the Dominican Republic — to be bishop of Palm Beach, the Catholic diocese where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located.
“The US administration should take the hint: reduce these ICE interventions and get it under control,” said Francesco Sischi, founder of the Appia Institute, a Rome think-tank with close ties to the Vatican. “The church won’t turn around overnight but they can move forward.”
Hicks has paid tribute to New York’s historic role as an entry point for immigrants coming to America in search of a better life, and promised to work with “a variety of faith leaders and civic leaders … to realize the promise of the ‘Golden Door'”, in reference to the Statue of Liberty.
This is a far cry from the preferences of Dolan, who was appointed Archbishop of New York by the ultra-conservative German Pope Benedict XVI, and whom Fagioli said “represented the height of the culture war period in the American church”.
As president of the U.S. Bishops Conference, Dolan fought a tough political and legal battle against then-President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, particularly its mandate that most employers’ health insurance plans cover the cost of contraception and sterilization, which Catholic teaching considers “sinful.”
Under Dolan, Catholic organizations insisted that their freedom of religion exempted them from the mandate. Fagioli said, “This was a philosophical high-profile fight – that in the name of freedom of religion, we have the right to disobey this law.”
In a 2018 newspaper op-ed, Dolan accused Democrats of abandoning Catholic voters. “The party that once embraced Catholics has now closed the door on us,” he wrote, citing the party’s support for abortion and resistance to tax credits for families who opt out of public schools.
The archbishop later expressed his support for Trump and praised his second inauguration – which he blessed – as “a great day for the United States of America”.
Trump recently expressed his appreciation by endorsing Dolan as a potential successor to Pope Francis during the papal conclave — though Vatican analysts say the New York archbishop was never a contender.
Even after losing his official position, Dolan, a prolific social media commentator, is expected to remain a highly influential force among conservative Catholic circles.
Allen said, “It would be a mistake to think that he would go quietly into that fine night.” “He will remain a voice and presence in American Catholicism for a long time to come.”
