Pope Francis on Monday morning appointed a new archbishop of Boston, replacing Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who is retiring after holding the position for more than 20 years.
O’Malley introduced the Reverend Richard G. Henning, 59, current bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, as the tenth bishop and seventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, one of the most important Catholic archdioceses in the United States.
“The arrival of a new archbishop is always a time of renewal and hope,” O’Malley said at a news conference. “Pope Francis said that a priest is someone who conveys hope to restless hearts. Archbishop Henning is a joyful pastor who seeks to serve Christ.”
The Archdiocese of Boston is the fourth largest archdiocese in the United States, serving more than 1.8 million Roman Catholics. It had operating expenses of more than $350 million in fiscal 2023 and its schools serve more than 46,000 students.
Henning said he was “deeply shocked and surprised” to be chosen for his new role.
“I’m very aware that I have a lot to learn,” Henning said. “My first job, actually, is just being a listener.”
St. John Paul II tapped O’Malley to take command of Boston in 2003, at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal that exploded there following a Boston Globe investigation. Revelations of years of abuse and cover-ups by the Church led to the downfall of then-archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace in December 2002.
At 80, O’Malley is five years beyond the normal retirement age for bishops. His 59-year-old successor, Henning, of Rockville Centre, Long Island, has been bishop of Providence since last year.
Francis has long expressed his esteem for O’Malley and chose him as a founding member of his chief cardinal advisers, known as the C9.
In this role, O’Malley advised Francis not only on child protection issues, but also helped devise reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.
Born in Ohio and ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1970, O’Malley came to Massachusetts in 1992 to serve as bishop of Fall River, a diocese that was rocked by a sexual abuse scandal involving a priest. convicted of molesting children. O’Malley was tasked with resolving abuse complaints.
The experience proved useful in 2003 when, after spending time as Bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach in Florida, he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Archbishop of Boston. Once again, he took over a district rocked by sexual abuse – this time a much more serious crisis, involving dozens of priests.
But David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, criticized O’Malley for “a masterful job with his public relations, but a terribly disappointing job with the church’s ongoing abuse and scandal. of cover-up.”
“He has carefully created the impression of a ‘reformer’ while refusing to take some of the simplest and most proven steps to warn parents, parishioners and the public about potentially threatening clergy,” Clohessy said in a statement.
Henning will likely bring more of the same, said Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who has represented abuse victims for decades.
“Bishop Henning does not have a track record of protecting children, whether by speaking out strongly against clergy sexual abuse or by supporting substantial change,” he said in a statement, calling Henning “a company man.”
“Victims believe that Bishop Henning will basically ignore the ugly problem of clergy sexual abuse and hope it goes away,” he said.
O’Malley’s relations with Francisco were not always easy. In 2018, he issued a scathing statement rebuking Francis after the pope dismissed allegations of abuse by Chilean survivors of the country’s most notorious abuser.
O’Malley’s harsh tone was something of a wake-up call for Francisco, who ended up apologizing after ordering an investigation into the Chilean scandal.
More recently, O’Malley’s commission flagged “serious problems” in the Vatican’s handling of the case of a former Jesuit artist, the Rev. Marko Rupnik, prompting Francis to order the case reopened.
Henning expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for the new appointment and described O’Malley as a faithful servant who “served the Church of Boston for many faithful and joyful years” during his tenure.
“I am grateful to His Holiness Pope Francis for the trust he placed in me and for conferring this new mission as Archbishop of Boston. I receive this appointment trusting in divine Providence, aware that this is the Lord’s Church and that I am nothing more than an unworthy servant,” he said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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