Pope Francis has accepted Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley’s resignation as archbishop of Boston, after over 20 years in this role, and has named Bishop Richard G. Henning of Providence as his successor, the Holy See Press Office announced on August 5, 2023.
“I am so grateful for the kindness, the patience, of the people of the archdiocese who put up with me for 21 years,” Cardinal O’Malley said with a smile during a press conference on August 5 in Boston. “In my many years as a Capuchin brother and as a bishop I have seen that presence and love in the providence that the Lord’s care for us has been. I see the arrival of the new archbishop as one more indication of God’s loving providence for his Church.”
Cardinal O’Malley celebrated his 80th birthday on June 29, meaning he is now unable to vote for a pope at the next conclave, and that he was five years past the normal retirement age for bishops of 75.
He will now be replaced by Bishop Richard Henning of Providence, 59, who had been appointed to that diocese just a little over a year ago, in November 2022. He will be installed as archbishop of Boston on October 31.
Cardinal O’Malley: an important Church figure
Cardinal O’Malley has been a central and influential figure in the Church, especially in its fight against sexual abuse. It was partially due to these efforts that he was nominated as archbishop of Boston in 2003, in the aftermath of the “Spotlight” investigation by the Boston Globe that revealed cases of sexual abuse by clergy and their mishandling in the diocese and lead to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.
Other than continuing the fight and then accompanying the healing process in his own diocese, Cardinal O'Malley has also been the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors since 2014. This body is in charge of proposing and helping implement safeguarding measures and standards in the Church, and the Pope has asked Cardinal O’Malley to continue in this position for the time being.
This Franciscan Cardinal is also known for his attention and ministry to migrants and the most needy, as he is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and is close to Pope Francis. In fact Cardinal O’Malley was among the first members of the Argentian Pontiff’s Council of Cardinals, a body created by Francis to advise him on the governing of the Church, in 2013.
According to The Election of Pope Francis, a book on the conclave by Vatican reporter Gerard O'Connell of America magazine, O’Malley was a papal candidate in 2013 and received 10 votes at the end of the first round of voting.
New bishop: “I am a sinner in need of grace”
“I am a sinner in need of grace, and I place my faith, my trust, my hope in the Lord Jesus who is Bread for the world and the King of love,” said Bishop Richard Henning during the press conference. “I am not worthy of this call; I was deeply shocked and surprised by this call, but I know the goodness of God suffices in all things. I will trust in him.”
Bishop Henning was born in 1964 in Rockville Centre in the state of New York, and was ordained in 1992. He completed a PhD in biblical theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome and has had many formation positions in US seminaries. He was appointed as auxiliary bishop of Rockville Centre in 2018 and then coadjutor bishop of Providence in 2022, before succeeding as bishop in May 2023.
“The greatest joy of my life has been the school of love that is God's people. Across parishes and dioceses I have learned to trust and to serve,” Bishop Henning said during the press conference, as he thanked Pope Francis for his appointment and Cardinal O’Malley for his ministry.
His stance on some delicate issues
When asked by reporters what will his message be to sexual abuse survivors who have left the Church, he said he “will listen to their pain and woundedness.”
“Those survivors deserve a listening heart. In some ways, they often have as much to proclaim about the Gospel as we do to them,” Bishop Henning continued. “If a leader in the Church has failed you I am so sorry, but God has not failed you, God is still with you. It would be tragic for you to lose your relationship with God, the blessings that flow from that because of my actions or failures.”
When asked instead about his stance on political issues such as abortion, with US elections on the horizon, he said he is “a pastor not a politician.”
“I think what I want to do is to help the Catholics and the faithful of this archdiocese form their consciences,” he said.
“I am pro-life because I believe the Gospel teaches us the sacred dignity of every human life, but I know there are people of good will who passionately disagree with that,” he added. “We have the resources, every woman should have a full choice, and one of those choices should be to bring her child to term knowing that she will be supported and assisted in that. I think there is room here for us to talk to one another and really to reverence the beauty and the sacred nature of human life."
