Pope Leo Picks Fellow Chicagoan with \u2018Missionary Spirit\u2019 as New York\u2019s Next Archbishop Bishop Hicks has a diverse and impressive skillset. But how will his Midwestern sensibilities fare in the Big Apple? In his most significant U.S. episcopal appointment to date, Pope Leo XIV is going back to his Chicago roots, tapping a young prelate with a remarkably similar background to his own as the next archbishop of New York. The Pope\u2019s pick for the Big Apple is Bishop Ronald Hicks, 58, the current ordinary of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, and a fellow native of Chicago\u2019s south suburbs. Bishop Hicks\u2019 impending appointment was first reported by Spanish outlet Religi\u00f3n Digital on Dec. 15, and EWTN News has confirmed it with two independent sources with direct knowledge. An official announcement from the Vatican is expected tomorrow. Born in 1967, just 12 years after Pope Leo, Bishop Hicks grew up in South Holland, Illinois, adjacent to the Pope\u2019s hometown of Dolton. \u201cI recognize a lot of similarities between him and me,\u201d Bishop Hicks told Chicago media about Pope Leo in the wake of the American\u2019s May 8 election to the papacy. \u201cSo we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, liked the same pizza places. \u2026 I mean, it\u2019s that real.\u201d Bishop Hicks also attended high school at Quigley Preparatory Seminary South, which eventually became St. Rita of Cascia High School, where Pope Leo XIV taught in the 1980s. Perhaps the most glaring difference between the two is that Bishop Hicks is a fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, not the Chicago White Sox. The two have met at least once before, when then-Cardinal Robert Prevost spoke at a Diocese of Joliet parish on Aug. 7, 2024, during a trip back to the Chicago area. Afterward, Bishop Hicks said they spoke for more than 15 minutes, with the future Pope showing an interest in the young bishop\u2019s ministry and giving him his card. Just over one year later, Leo has picked Bishop Hicks for one of the most prominent posts in the Pope\u2019s home country. Bishop Hicks will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a larger-than-life personality who has led the New York archdiocese since 2009. The appointment ends speculation over who would succeed Cardinal Dolan, since the prelate turned 75 this past February, and sends a signal over the qualities Pope Leo will likely look for in top episcopal appointments moving forward. Latin American Experience In addition to their common Chicago roots, Bishop Hicks shares ministerial experience in Latin America with Pope Leo. Eleven years after his 1994 ordination as a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago, the archbishop-elect spent five years in El Salvador as the regional director of Nuestros Peque\u00f1os Hermanos, a charity that serves orphans in Latin America. The archbishop-elect is fluent in Spanish. Bishop Hicks graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 1989 with a philosophy degree. He earned a Master of Divinity from the University of Saint Mary of the Lake\/Mundelein Seminary in 1994 and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the same institution in 2003. Sister Sara Butler, who taught Bishop Hicks when he was a student at Mundelein Seminary and then worked alongside him when he joined the seminary\u2019s formation staff, recalled that he \u201cshowed a remarkable missionary spirit.\u201d Others have been similarly impressed by his pastoral heart and orthodox faith. Jonathan Blevins, a former Chicago parish lay leader who worked with Bishop Hicks on several occasions, said the archbishop-elect is \u201ctraditional, and loves the lost and the poor,\u201d with a \u201chuge heart for Hispanics.\u201d \u201cWhenever he spoke, you could tell his heart was with the poor, especially from his time working at the orphanage,\u201d said Father Kevin Gregus, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago who crossed paths with Bishop Hicks as a seminarian. \u201cI think he would\u2019ve moved there permanently if [former Chicago archbishop] Cardinal Francis George had let him.\u201d Administration and Evangelization Instead, Father Hicks rose through the ranks of Chicago\u2019s clergy, holding posts like dean of formation at Mundelein and archdiocesan vicar general. The Chicago cleric was made an auxiliary bishop by Pope Francis in 2018 and ordinary of Joliet just two years later. When he arrived in Joliet, a diocese of about 500,000 Catholics that includes the south and west of the Chicago metro area, Bishop Hicks emphasized his desire to put \u201cChrist at the center of our lives.\u201d \u201cThe reason I\u2019m a priest, the reason I\u2019m a bishop, the reason I\u2019m Catholic is because I love Jesus,\u201d Bishop Hicks told diocesan media. \u201cI\u2019ve been baptized, and as a baptized Catholic I want to continue to evangelize and to make sure the faith is growing and that it is not only growing for a certain segment but for everyone \u2014 for young people, for the elderly, for those of us who may be in the middle.\u201d Bishop Hicks has also tackled administrative challenges in Joliet. In 2022, he initiated a diocesan restructuring plan that has resulted in several parish closures and mergers. He also spoke out in May 2023 after Illinois\u2019 attorney general released a historical report on clergy sex abuse, stating that the diocese will \u201ccontinue to dedicate significant resources to protecting children, preventing abuse, and promoting healing.\u201d \u201cNo sin of such great magnitude as sexual abuse of minors should ever be forgotten,\u201d Bishop Hicks said in his statement. \u201cRemembering the harm done forces us to remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure it never happens again.\u201d During his time in Joliet, Bishop Hicks has made missionary discipleship a top priority. In September 2025, he released \u201cMAKE,\u201d a pastoral letter that calls Joliet Catholics to follow Christ\u2019s command to \u201cmake other disciples\u201d via \u201cconversion, confession, communion, and commission.\u201d \u201cBoldly, I want our diocese to be the most evangelizing diocese in the country, not out of competition, but because I love Jesus, and I want you to love Him and be saved through Him, too,\u201d wrote Bishop Hicks in an accompanying column. The Cupich Connection In addition to Pope Leo XIV, Bishop Hicks is also connected to another Chicago Churchman: Cardinal Blase Cupich. The archbishop-elect is the third former auxiliary of Cardinal Cupich\u2019s to be named to a U.S. archdiocese in the past year and a half, joining Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee and Archbishop Robert Casey of Cincinnati. Cardinal Cupich, 76, has long exerted considerable influence upon major episcopal appointments in the U.S. and remains a member of the Vatican\u2019s Dicastery for Bishops. Bishop Hicks has hailed the Chicago cardinal as a mentor and appeared in a tribute video marking the cardinal\u2019s 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. \u201cCardinal Cupich, thank you for your extraordinary leadership to the Church,\u201d Bishop Hicks said during his 2020 installation Mass as Joliet\u2019s bishop. \u201cThank you for your trust and confidence in me. And I want you to know how much I have learned directly from you.\u201d Pro-Life, TLM-Friendly At the same time, several sources in Chicago and Joliet emphasized that Bishop Hicks is decidedly his own man \u2014 and has views and priorities that clearly depart from Cardinal Cupich\u2019s. For instance, while Cardinal Cupich is known as one of the American episcopacy\u2019s most forceful opponents of the traditional Latin Mass, TLM attendees in the Diocese of Joliet say Bishop Hicks has been anything but hostile. \u201cI have and continue to have a great sense of gratitude to Bishop Hicks for his pastoral wisdom in shielding his flock from the draconian measures issued in Traditionis Custodes,\u201d said Trevor Alcorn, who attends the TLM at St. John Paul II in Kankakee, Illinois. \u201cHe knew that the TLM communities had and would continue to bear fruit in his diocese, and he went out of his way to preserve them.\u201d Alcorn, who is the co-owner of Tridentine Brewing, described Bishop Hicks\u2019 protection of the TLM in Joliet as \u201csilently effective\u201d because it avoided unnecessary fanfare. He also said it was an instance of synodal leadership because it involved Bishop Hicks \u201clistening to the faithful and taking their needs into consideration.\u201d Bishop Hicks\u2019 liturgical style appears to exhibit simple reverence and love for the Eucharist. For instance, a video accompanying his pastoral letter features the bishop distributing Communion on the tongue, a posture many associate with Eucharistic piety. Bishop Hicks also promoted the National Eucharistic Revival heavily in Joliet, including serving as the first diocese to welcome this past year\u2019s procession from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. Sources also described Bishop Hicks as a theologically sound prelate who embraces the entirety of the Church\u2019s social teaching. He considers St. \u00d3scar Romero, the El Salvadoran martyr and defender of the poor, to be a personal hero, and has written about the need for Catholics to be \u201ccountercultural\u201d on abortion. John Breen, a Loyola University Chicago law professor who was openly critical of Cardinal Cupich\u2019s intention to honor pro-abortion senator Dick Durbin this past fall, described Bishop Hicks as \u201cstrongly supportive of the pro-life cause.\u201d \u201cAlthough that message is largely countercultural in New York, I have every confidence that he will witness to the cause of the unborn and all the gospel of life in season and out of season,\u201d said Breen, who is the Diocese of Joliet\u2019s lay representative on the Catholic Conference of Illinois board of directors. However, the archbishop-elect may favor a less confrontational approach, as he was one of 47 diocesan bishops to sign a 2021 letter opposing a USCCB document on \u201cEucharistic coherence,\u201d which was expected to address barring pro-abortion-rights Catholic politicians from Communion. Bishop Hicks also appears to have the esteem of his brother bishops. In November 2024, he was elected as the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops\u2019 Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, securing more than 63% of the vote. Bishop Hicks has a diverse and impressive skillset. But how will his Midwestern sensibilities fare in the Big Apple? Home to 2.5 million Catholics, the Archdiocese of New York is the second-largest diocese in the U.S. after Los Angeles. Gotham\u2019s archbishop also acts as one of the most visible Catholic figures in the nation, given New York\u2019s status as America\u2019s media capital. Following both Cardinal Dolan, a native of St. Louis, and Chicago-native Cardinal Edward Egan, Bishop Hicks will be the third straight Midwesterner to serve as New York\u2019s archbishop. In contrast to the gregarious, back-slapping Cardinal Dolan, however, Bishop Hicks has said that he\u2019s more of \u201ca gentle spirit.\u201d At the same time, he believes he is \u201cable to also be strong and to try to set vision and agendas and make sure they move forward.\u201d Bishop Hicks will share the New York City spotlight with mayor-elect Zohran Mandami, the city\u2019s first Muslim mayor and a socialist. And the news of his impending move to the Empire State also comes amidst a Dec. 17 announcement that Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Catholic, will sign assisted-suicide legislation into law. Meanwhile, Bishop Hicks\u2019 arrival could help boost vocation numbers in New York, where there are currently only 23 seminarians in formation for the archdiocese. In addition to his past posts at the Archdiocese of Chicago\u2019s seminaries and current USCCB work on vocations, he is a bishop adviser to the Institute for Priestly Formation, a popular ministry that forms seminarians in Ignatian spirituality. Bishop Hicks\u2019 Spanish-language skills and experience in Latin America will be a boon in an archdiocese with more than 1 million Hispanic Catholics. Likewise, his administrative chops will assuredly come into play as the archdiocese attempts to navigate the fallout from clergy-sexual-abuse lawsuits. Budgets have been cut, staff have been laid off, and the archdiocese sold off $490 million in real estate holdings last week in order to pay victims. What\u2019s clear is that Pope Leo has his man for New York City. And the appointment of a prelate like Bishop Hicks \u2014 pastorally-minded, evangelistically orientated, and concerned with reverent worship and clear teaching \u2014 may serve as the mold for U.S. episcopal moves under Leo going forward, whether his selections come from Chicago or not. This article was originally published by NCRegister. Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today EWTN Vatican on WhatsApp Jonathan Liedl Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter. 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