New archbishop of New York calls for unity and helping the vulnerable

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Ronald Hicks was installed Friday as the 11th archbishop of New York in a ceremony at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, where he called for a “missionary” Catholic Church focused on spreading the faith while “show[ing] respect for all” and helping those most in need. With a few thousand people inside the cathedral and hundreds more gathered outside, Hicks officially succeeded Cardinal Timothy Dolan during an elaborate Mass that included choir singing, prayers and readings from the Gospel.

Hicks, 58, used the installation remarks to lay out a leadership theme centered on evangelization and service. He said Catholics are “called to be a missionary church, a church that catechizes, evangelizes and puts our faith into action,” describing “a church made up of missionary disciples who go out and make disciples” and pass the faith “from one generation to the next.” He added that the Church should “take care of the poor and the vulnerable,” and he said it should “defends, respects and upholds life, from conception to a natural death.”

The archbishop also connected the mission of the Church to care for people harmed by the institution and to building bridges across communities. Hicks called for a church that “cares for creation, builds bridges, listens and … protects children, promotes healing for survivors and all those who have been wounded by the church.” He also said the Church should “show respect for all, building unity across cultures and generations.”

Dolan’s retirement and Hicks’ succession were tied to canonical requirements. Pope Leo XIV chose Hicks in December to replace Dolan, and Dolan had submitted his resignation in February 2025 after turning 75. Friday was Dolan’s 76th birthday, and the change in leadership arrived as the U.S. Catholic Church shifts into what the Associated Press described as a new era under Pope Leo XIV.

In the Mass and installation rites, the ceremony began with Hicks standing outside the cathedral in a red robe and white mitre and knocking on the front doors three times with a small mallet. Dolan and Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, welcomed him into the cathedral and received loud applause from attendees in the building.

Pierre read the official letter from the pope declaring Hicks the new archbishop of New York, and Hicks then showed the letter to people in attendance. Dolan and Pierre led Hicks to the cathedra, the archbishop’s chair, where Hicks officially became archbishop when he sat down, according to the ceremony description.

Attendees included Catholic Church leaders and laity, along with representatives from other faiths, government, business, labor, education, the arts and first responders. Some of Hicks’ relatives attended in person while his parents watched a livestream from their home, and Hicks made some of his remarks in Spanish, acknowledging the city’s large Hispanic population.

Hicks’ remarks also reflected on New York through music, reading a mashup he made from lines from famous songs about the city. He declared, “So start spreading the news. I’m starting today,” playing on lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.” Outside the cathedral, Frieda Cabreja, a Queens resident, said she felt “incredible” because the day was memorable and historic and that Hicks brings “peace and humanity,” adding that she believes many people in New York and the states face what she described as a “crisis of humanity.”

The installation placed Hicks at the head of one of the largest U.S. archdioceses. He previously served as bishop of Joliet, Illinois, and now leads an archdiocese that serves roughly 2.5 million Catholics in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, as well as seven counties to the north, according to the Associated Press account.

Hicks grew up in South Holland, Illinois, and his path to leadership included missionary work and church administration in the Chicago area. The Associated Press said Hicks spent five years in El Salvador heading a church-run orphanage program operating in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries, served as a parish priest in Chicago, and later became dean of training at Mundelein Seminary. The reporting further said Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich named him vicar general in 2015, that he became an auxiliary bishop three years later, and that Pope Francis named him bishop of Joliet in 2020, serving roughly 520,000 Catholics in seven counties.

In his installation address, Hicks referenced Pope Leo multiple times and tied his own priorities to the pope’s calls for a missionary purpose. He said: “We exist to follow Jesus, who fed the hungry, healed those ill in body and spirit, rejected hatred and proclaimed love.”