US Catholic bishops elect conservative Paul Coakley as new president | Catholicism
U.S. Catholic bishops elected Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley as the new president on Tuesday, choosing a conservative culture warrior to lead Donald Trump during his second term as president.
The vote serves as a barometer for bishops’ priorities. By electing Coakley, they are doubling down on their conservative leanings even as they demand more humane immigration policies from the Trump administration.
Coakley was seen as a strong contender for the top job, as he was tapped to serve as the No. 3 conference official secretary in 2022. In three rounds of voting, he defeated centrist candidate Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, who was later elected vice president.
Coakley serves as a consultant to the Napa Institute, an association for conservative Catholic power brokers. In 2018, he openly supported Italian archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, an ardent critic of Pope Francis; He was later excommunicated for his views that were considered separatist.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has frequently been at odds with the Vatican and the late Pope Francis’ inclusive, modernizing approach. His US-born successor, Pope Leo XIV, maintains similar pastoral emphasis on marginalized people, poverty and the environment.
Half of the 10 candidates on the ballot came from the conservative wing of the conference. The difference is in style rather than content. Most Catholic bishops in the US are fairly conservative on social issues, but some, like Coakley, place more emphasis on opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.
David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, said the list reflects “the dynamics of the American hierarchy divided down the middle.”
There was no clear leader. Candidates were nominated by their fellow bishops, and Coakley replaced the leader, archbishop for military services Timothy Broglio, who is stepping down for a three-year term. The current vice president, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, was too close to the mandatory retirement age of 75 to take the top spot.
Coakley edged out a well-known name in the vote, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota’s Winona-Rochester diocese; his popular Ministry of Fire made him a Catholic media star. He serves on Trump’s Commission on Religious Liberty along with another candidate, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.
Coakley also beat out centrist candidates who some Catholic insiders think could help U.S. bishops unite and work well with the Vatican.
Flores, in particular, was seen as a strong centrist opponent. He became a leader of U.S. bishops in the Vatican’s synod process to modernize the church. As a Latino, he represents a growing segment of the U.S. Catholic church. In his diocese along the U.S.-Mexico border, he is orthodox on sexual ethics and outspoken in his defense of immigrants.
The bishops plan to discuss immigration during the meeting. They appear to be as divided and polarized as their country on many issues. However, on immigration, even the most conservative Catholic leaders side with immigrants.
The question is how strongly the entire community plans to speak out about the Trump administration’s harsh immigration tactics.
Fear of immigration enforcement suppressed mass turnout in some neighborhoods. Local clergy are fighting to have mass offered to detained immigrants. U.S. Catholic bishops halted a long-running refugee resettlement program after the Trump administration halted federal funding for resettlement aid.
The bishops sent a letter to the pope from their meeting, stating that they “will continue to stand by immigrants and defend everyone’s right to worship without being exposed to any pressure.”
“We support safe and orderly borders and law enforcement actions in response to dangerous criminal activity, but we cannot remain silent during this challenging time when the right to worship and the right to due process are undermined,” the letter continued.
Pope Leo recently called for a “deep consideration” of the treatment of immigrants detained in the United States, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years without causing any problems are deeply affected by what is happening right now.”
