NY’s new archbishop reveals what he has in common with Pope

Bishop Ronald Hicks, the archbishop-designate of New York, spoke to the press to discuss his upcoming move to New York City.

In the interview, he revealed some of the things he has in common with Pope Leo XIV, the man who gave him this new mission, as well as his predecessor, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Here’s what the soon-to-be New Yorker had to say:

New York City might be known as “The Capital of the World,” but for the last quarter decade, the archdiocese has been led by people from the Midwest.

Cardinal Dolan hails from St. Louis, Missouri, and was a priest of that archdiocese. When he was assigned as the archbishop of New York in 2009, he replaced Cardinal Edward Michael Egan, a Chicago native.

Hicks is a native of Harvey, Illinois, and grew up in South Holland, Illinois. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 21, 1994, and in 1999, he was named the dean of formation at St. Joseph Seminary in Chicago. 

Pope Leo XIV is famously from Dolton, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. And what’s more, while Hicks and Pope Leo were not exactly next-door neighbors, they grew up considerably close to one another.

“I’m a Cubs fan. And I love deep dish pizza. That said, I want you to know that I am going to remain a loyal Cubs fan. However, I am going to start rooting for the New York sports teams,” Hicks told the media.

Hicks’ allegiance to the Chicago Cubs is unusual when you remember he is from the city’s South Side like Pope Leo.

Dolan is a devoted fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, one of the Cubs’ rivals. During conclave, he recalled asking the then-Cardinal Robert Prevost which of the Chicago baseball teams he supported.

“Leaning over, I whispered ‘Don Roberto’ – Italian for ‘Father Robert,’ a traditional greeting for Italian priests, including cardinals – ‘Cubs or White Sox?'” Dolan wrote in the New York Post after conclave.

Dolan continued, “Looking back at me, he said, ‘I’m a South Sider – White Sox for me.’ As a loyal St. Louis Cardinals fan, I was very relieved he was not a fan of those dreaded Cubs!”

A lot of Pope Leo’s time as a priest and bishop was spent in Peru. In 2005, a little more than a decade into his priesthood, Hicks, too, moved south.

In 2005, Hicks went to El Salvador with permission of his bishop, Cardinal Francis George, and spent five years there as the regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, an organization caring for orphaned and abandoned children in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

“I share that with the Pope,” said Hicks in an interview with ABC 7 Chicago, saying that growing up, “We loved going to Aurelio’s, in Homewood.”