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

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Palm Beach, Florida, and named as his successor Father Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, currently pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Corona in the New York borough of Queens.

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

The resignation and appointments were publicized in Washington Dec. 19 by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

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.

He said he was grateful to Pope Leo “for his prayerful discernment” in appointing a new shepherd for the Brookly diocesan priest as his successor.

Bishop-designate Rodriguez, 51, “is a young, enthusiastic and pastoral priest, who is described as a ‘priest who walks with the people,'” Bishop Barbarito said in a statement. “With all of you, I welcome him to our Diocesan family, which will be greatly blessed by his ministry, and I very much look forward to getting to know him as in just a few days he has shown himself to be a deeply spiritual and exceptional priest.”

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 — and was later incardinated into — the Diocese of Brooklyn 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.

“These years that I have been ministering in the Diocese of Brooklyn are among the happiest of my life,” Bishop-designate told The Tablet, the news outlet of the Diocese of Brooklyn. “Throughout these experiences, I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve a diocese that is tremendously gifted about sharing love and sharing the joy of the Gospel.

“I will always keep in my heart everything I have learned from the many members of the diocese.”

At an introductory press conference in Palm Beach, the bishop-designate said, “I do not bring much with me. Only myself, and my faith in Christ Jesus, whom I follow as my Lord and Savior, and whom I will serve all my life, with you. For this reason, I make my own the words of St. Peter: ‘I have neither silver or gold. But what I have, I give you.'”

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. Bishop-designate Bui was born on Jan. 11, 1970, in Phú Qu?c, Vietnam. After moving to New Orleans, 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.

Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix thanked the pope for appointing another auxiliary for “one of the largest and most rapidly growing dioceses in the nation. “Phoenix faces increasing pastoral and administrative complexity,” he said, adding that the newly named auxiliary’s experience “in governance, his deep care for priests, and his commitment to accompaniment will be invaluable.”

Bishop-designate Bui joins Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares, ordained as the first auxiliary for the diocese July 19, 2010, in serving with Bishop Dolan.

“When Cardinal Pierre called with the news, I was honestly in shock — I even forgot he couldn’t see me nodding through the phone! But beneath that shock is profound gratitude to God and a deep desire to serve His people. I just want to be a good priest, now called to serve in a new way,” said the bishop-designate, who will turn 56 in January.

“I am profoundly grateful for this appointment and for the trust Pope Leo XIV has placed in me,” said. “My greatest desire is to collaborate closely with Bishop John Dolan, supporting his ministry so that together we can better serve all the faithful of this diocese. I depend on God’s grace and the prayers of his people.”

Contributing to this story were John Lavenburg of The Tablet, news outlet of the Diocese of Brooklyn. The Catholic Sun, the news outlet of the Diocese of Phoenix.

This story was updated Dec. 22.

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