Pope Leo appoints Queens pastor as Palm Beach bishop, and Vietnam-born priest as auxiliary in Phoenix

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Palm Beach, Fla., and named as his successor Father Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, currently pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Corona (Queens), N.Y.

The resignation and appointment were announced by the Vatican on Dec. 19.

The same day, the pope appointed the auxiliary bishop of Phoenix — Msgr. Peter Dai Bui, currently vicar for the clergy in the capital of Arizona, assigning him the titular see of Ausafa.

In Palm Beach, Bishop Barbarito has served the diocese since 2003. As required by church law, he submitted his retirement letter to the pope when he turned 75 on Jan. 4, 2025.

Bishop-designate Rodríguez will be ordained and installed at a future date to be determined during a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola and will then start administering the Diocese of Palm Beach, comprising of approximately 260,000 Catholics and 54 parishes and missions.

Born in the Dominican Republic, Bishop-designate Rodríguez was ordained to the priesthood July 3, 2004, in Santo Domingo, and became affiliated with (incardinated into) the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, on June 29, 2012. He is a canon lawyer with extensive experience in penal canon law and pastoral leadership. Besides his parish responsibilities in Queens, he serves in senior juridical roles in the Diocese of Brooklyn, including promoter of justice and delegate of the diocesan bishop for penal cases. Bishop-designate Rodríguez is fluent in four languages (English, Spanish, Italian and French).

The Diocese of Palm Beach was established by St. John Paul II in 1984, encompassing the counties of Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee. There is a total population of more than 2 million and a Catholic population of more than 260,000, served by nearly 300 ordained priests and deacons, with 20 Catholic elementary and high schools.

In Phoenix, the church is gaining a Vietnam-born auxiliary bishop. Msgr. Dai Bui was born on Jan. 11, 1970, in Phú Quoc, Vietnam. After moving to New Orleans, Louisiana, he entered the minor seminary of the Legionaries of Christ, professing his vows in 1991 and receiving priestly ordination in December 2003.

He completed his ecclesiastical studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, obtaining a licentiate in philosophy. In early 2000s, he was chaplain at a high school in Caracas, Venezuela and parochial vicar in the community entrusted to his congregation in Phoenix.

In 2009 he was incardinated in the Diocese of Phoenix, where he was parochial vicar in Phoenix, served at the Pontifical Council Cor Unum and was parish priest between 2017 and 2022. Since then, he has been vicar for the clergy.

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