Earlier on Thursday, Dolan introduced the 58-year-old Hicks at a news conference at St. Patrick's, saying, "St. Nicholas has left us an early Christmas gift in the appointment by Pope Leo XIV of our new archbishop, Ronald Hicks."

Timothy Cardinal Dolan welcomed Bishop Ronald Hicks to St. Patrick's Cathedral on Thursday after Pope Leo XIV officially accepted Dolan's resignation and named Hicks the new archbishop of New York. Dolan introduced his successor,

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a bishop from Illinois as the new leader of New York’s Catholic archdiocese, succeeding conservative Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is retiring.

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’s newest archbishop, a major shake-up in the country’s Catholic leadership that appears to continue the pontiff’s pushback against Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.