At the conclusion of his time as Catholic Archbishop of New York, where he has served since 2009, B’nai B’rith International expresses its deep appreciation to Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan for his committed friendship to the Jewish community in the city and beyond, and we extend a heartfelt welcome to Bishop Ronald A. Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, as his successor.

We will long remember our engagements with Cardinal Dolan over the course of his tenure in America’s largest metropolis, which included his service as a past president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and as co-chair of a Catholic dialogue with Jews.

At this particularly difficult time for the Jewish people, the cardinal’s solidarity and clear rejection of anti-Semitism have been critical. Our United Nations and Intercommunal Affairs Director David Michaels was privileged last year to invite and accompany him on a tour of an exhibit memorializing the harrowing Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault on the Nova music festival in Israel. His warmth and moral clarity on that occasion and so many others were palpable.

As the world’s oldest Jewish organization—one founded in New York City—we now welcome Bishop Hicks, Pope Leo XIV’s selection as the next Archbishop of New York. We greatly look forward to working closely with him, as with his predecessors—not least in the city with the largest Jewish community in the diaspora and one of the single largest Catholic populations in the United States.

It has been a blessing to already engage with Pope Leo since the recent start of his pontificate, as with his own predecessors and so many friends across the Catholic Church globally. We aim to only further deepen the essential Catholic-Jewish bond—and realize our communities’ shared values and aspirations—with the new archbishop.

This continued undertaking is in keeping with “Nostra Aetate,” the important Second Vatican Council declaration on interreligious ties, whose 60th anniversary we marked this year.