Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 11, 2025 / 12:15 pm
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City was elected to serve as the next president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a secret ballot on Nov. 11.
Bishops chose Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, to serve as vice president. Flores, who serves in the southernmost diocese in Texas, finished second in balloting for president. Coakley subsequently won a runoff.
Coakley, who was previously secretary of the USCCB, will serve a three-year term as president, succeeding the former president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio. The bishops held the election at the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.
He has a history of promoting a culture of life, opposing gender ideology, and supporting migrants.
The archbishop, who turned 70 years old in May, became a bishop in 2004. He has served in the Oklahoma City Archdiocese since 2011. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology.
Coakley’s defense of a culture of life is a continuation of Broglio’s leadership on the subject. Under Broglio, the bishops maintained that abortion is the “preeminent priority” in elections.
In 2022, Coakley praised Oklahoma lawmakers “for supporting pro-life measures” following a law that banned nearly all abortions. He said, to build a culture of life, one must recognize “the inherent dignity of every person [and it] requires the protections afforded by pro-life legislation and a profound change of heart.”
Coakley has criticized the Oklahoma government for its support of the death penalty. In 2022, he said: “The use of the death penalty only contributes to the continued coarsening of society and to the spiral of violence.”
In 2023, he expressed concern about the rise of gender dysphoria and the promotion of gender ideology in American society. He provided advice to parents but criticized drugs and surgeries used to facilitate a gender transition.
Coakley has also criticized the mass deportation efforts taken by President Donald Trump’s administration. In February of this year, he said deportations are “creating fear and even distress for our immigrant, migrant, and refugee neighbors who have arrived in search of the same dreams that awaited many of our ancestors at a different moment in time.”
He also said in the statement that “illegal immigration is wrong, and renewed efforts should be considered to protect our nation’s borders.” He mentioned concerns about human and drug trafficking but said the majority of people who entered the country illegally “are upstanding members of our communities and churches, not violent criminals.”
Flores to serve as vice president
Flores is the former president of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine and was the only southern-border bishop in contention for the role of president.
Flores will serve a three-year term as vice president, succeeding the former vice president, Archbishop William Lori.
Flores, who is 64 years old, holds a doctorate in sacred theology and is a former theology professor. He has been a bishop since 2006. He was one of 12 bishops to serve on the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on Synodality and is a promoter of synodality in the Church.
In 2017, Flores said support for mass deportations is “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil,” similar to driving someone to an abortion clinic. He has expressed concern about polarization in the Church and urged “civil conversation … to seek what is good and make the priority how to achieve it and how to avoid what is evil.”
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Bishops need to stay in their own lane. Politics is the domain of the laity in the Catholic Church.
That seems to be part of the “spirit of Vatican II” that hasn’t yet manifested itself to the clergy.
The Vatican punishes severely any illegal alien entering the state:
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! …
So, illegal immigration is wrong and we should protect our borders but deportations of illegal immigrants are also wrong. Uh-huh. Whatever.
The USCCB president is irrelevant to my life. Always has been.
The Church needs to focus on improving local Catholic parish liturgy, catechesis, and community life. I don’t care who the USCCB president is nor what he says. It doesn’t affect my parish life at all.
Agree
If you can’t be trusted with small things — common sense everyday realities — you can’t be trusted priceless ineffable truth.
More of the same which has seen the deconstruction of Catholicism, the evaporation of its practice.
“In 2017, Flores said support for mass deportations is “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil,” similar to driving someone to an abortion clinic. He has expressed concern about polarization in the Church and urged “civil conversation.”
So, mass deportation is an intrinsic evil, but let’s have civil conversation and avoid polarization. An interesting pair of sentences.
“supporting migrants”
Oh please. Generally that means militating for general amnesty, the eradication of national borders through decriminalizing Title 8 of the U.S. Code and making sure that regardless of the legality of entry, the invaders enjoy the benefits of the welfare state.
Find me a Bishop that has a history of supporting their citizen parishioners-including militating for relief for the burdens unfettered entry causes. That would be novel.
The USCCB is largely a useless bureaucracy which does nothing to increase the number of Catholics, increase their engagement and preclude apostasy.
I could care less who this echo chamber promotes.
“In 2017, Flores said support for mass deportations is “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil,” similar to driving someone to an abortion clinic.”
Right. I’m sure that’s popular with the illegals in his border diocese, but it’s utterly unhinged.
This is as ridiculous as it is repugnant.
TPR:
My sentiments exactly!
I wish they could explain their love affair with cooperating with the intrinsic evils of rapes, murders, and sex trafficking by those being deported.
Clearly the US bishops have a big problem with their Cathloic layfolk not taking them seriously. Oh, sure… they are politely lauded at photo ops and ceremonies. That’s pretty much all bishops are: ceremonial figureheads who happen to also have jurisdictional rule over the church real estate in their territory. I keep the diocese at three arms’ length. My own bishop? I have no use for him.
Donald: you are speaking like a Protestant!
But what do you expect when our bishops speak like Protestants?
Pitchfork Rebel above (4:31 p.m.) – I COULDN’T care less.
Yes, thank you.
It’s bad enough I have to try to keep up with my personal font of typographical errors, now “autocorrect” is making them for me, by slipping stuff in before I finish the thought.
The best thing that has happened is when the government withdrew their yearly 100 million dollar charity slush fund.
The USCCB was getting $122 million per year from the Biden Administration for settling illegals, ya know the people breaking our immigration laws. Can be verified by going to their website and looking at their financials. Follow the money. Trump cut off their money. Enuf said. For their collective mishandling of the sex abuse they should all be in sackcloth for five years. Repent brother bishops before you naughty naughty the flock.
Earth to Our Bishops: The USCCB is on no Catholic’s radar screen. It is irrelevant to anyone’s salvation (which is the essence of Christianity) who is elected to anything at the USCCB.
Interesting to note that there is no mention of their pro- life and gender/ sexual stances in the public square. Seems it’s easier to criticize than acknowledge and praise. Oh what fools we mortals be!
“Interesting to note that there is no mention of their pro- life and gender/ sexual stances in the public square. Seems it’s easier to criticize than acknowledge and praise. Oh what fools we mortals be!”
As for the frivolity of mortals, speak for yourself. I’m not praising anybody for those stands, any more than I would praise them for public defense of the Trinity, the Real Presence or Seven Sacraments or an employee for showing up at their scheduled time. Anything less is unacceptable and dereliction of duty. (there are reasonable excuses for late arrivals) Any Bishop who cannot make those stands needs to get off the Diocesan dole and get a 9-5 or find a new tradition that conforms to their errors.
I am more interested in the ones that dilute the Pro-life message such as Flores who compared support for “mass deportations” with driving somebody to an abortion clinic-an action which incurs excommunication latae sententiae. You have to wonder if he hears himself when he talks.
I’m also more concerned with Kentucky’s twin towers of error Iffert and Stowe and their dilution of chastity with their alphabet kissups. Iffert of course is an affirmed TLMenemy who has no problem with holding “LGTQB” masses for dissident groups.
CWR has covered Stowe: (June 1, 2024 by Jayd Hendricks)
“The behavior of Bishop John Stowe of Lexington—behavior so gratingly at odds with the good work of his brother bishops—can only serve to embarrass the USCCB and will continue to hamper their pastoral witness if left unaddressed by the Holy See.”
Unfortunately, I doubt the Pope has the guts to excise the Cancer of Lexington, one of an inordinate number of problematic Francine appointments and the last one would never remove one of his own.
I’m increasingly of the opinion that the laity-after all the Episcopal scandals-should have a right to convene investigations of Bishops based on clear and continued patterns of doctrinal divergence or arbitrary, capricious and inconsistent edicts.
There’s been entirely too many Bishops whose heresy began below the belt (McCarrick, Weakland). We have a right to know if moral turpitude is affecting judgment.
The “pro-life” or “anti-mutilation” comments of our bishops cost them nothing, because they never enforce Catholic teaching when their Democrat financiers flout Christian morality so hideously. All the bishops’ pro-life talk is just harmless performance art. On the other hand, the bishops have an invested interest – more than $100,000,000 per year- in perpetuating their human-trafficking project. That is why they respond so vociferously when their cash cow is driven from the pasture.
For earnest Catholics, the USCCB is the most irrelevant group of people on the planet. I would sooner take spiritual advice from a disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh than from this collection of Democrat spongers.
It used to be said that the USCCB is/was the “Democrat party at prayer”.
Increasing, some seem like they want to join the late atheist Episcopalian “Bishop” John Shelby Spong in a gay sweat lodge in hell.
Deacon Peitler above (4:26 a.m.)
The USCCB is, in fact, on my radar (and I’m not even American).
I find quite a number of your bishops articulate and inspiring. No doubt individual ones would be so apart from the Conference but I doubt if I would have heard from them.
Cleo, you have mighty strange interests if you from a foreign land follow our bishops. Please let us in on who you follow and what you find most intriguing about them.
Archbishop Coakley publicly supported Archbishop Vigano when few did.
Well, a broken clock is right twice a day. God bless Archbishop Vigano!
I am curious, with all the talk of “accompaniment”.
When does Archbishop Vigano or Bishop Strickland get to be met where they are?
Maybe if they illegally entered another country and called themselves “undocumented migrants”….
I wonder if he stands by his earlier support for Vigano or if he regards his excommunication as valid.
Where is the spirituality in our bishops? Why do they seem like
so many social workers, political activists, worldly mem? Where
are the prayerful holy men? Is there kingdom supposed to be of this
world?
Deacon Peitler above (12:13 p.m.) –
Bishop Coakley for one. Archbishop Cordileone. (Do Archbishops count?) And the one who recently put out a very fine statement on IVF. I forget his name but I’m sure it will come up again.
You wouldn’t be the only one who thinks my interests are strange. I’ll live with it.
I know the judges on the US Supreme Court too.
When was the last time you heard an articulate, courageous statement from a Canadian bishop or judge? (Not that they don’t exist).
Cleo, you’ve named TWO BISHOPS. Congratulations! There are over 400 bishops – retired and active. You have 398 to now tell us why you follow them from afar.
I heard a good homily from a Canadian priest a few months ago. Does that count?
🙂
The prolife leftists prevailed once again. He’ll say the right things on abortion and homosexuality without really doing much. The most strongly worded pronouncements will, as always, deal with immigration, climate change, economics, crime and punishment, welfare and the like. In other words, he’ll offer the bishops’ political opinions on matters of prudential judgement as being Official Church Teaching.
Oops.
I see that it’s Archbishop Coakley. So I guess Cordileone is good.
Naumann is an archbishop too, right?
Cleo: You have only 397 more to name and explain why, from a foreign land, you follow bishops in the USA.
Deacon there are admirable US Bishops across the States. Yes inspiring people everywhere in the world. And it’s not like we do-must-have to know everything about them. Some would be working with great modesty spreading faith and truth. Some who might be weak in faith could be just waiting to hear a true word and associate; we have to work at it continuously, all of us.
Deacon Peitler above (6:42 p.m.)
I listed three (forgot the name of one but it’ll come to me) and now another one. And there are more.
It wouldn’t hurt to show a little support when a bishop does or says something right.
Yes. Things too can shift at Notre Dame.
Just some ideas, here.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2016/03/14/bishop-rhoades-criticizes-notre-dame-for-honoring-joe-biden/
https://www.ncregister.com/news/notre-dame-decouple-dialogue-with-civic-leaders-from-graduation-ceremonies
https://www.ncregister.com/news/notre-dame-dei-hiring-concerns
And this following on the recent USCCB elections.
‘ Several bishops expressed concern that some Catholics seem so deeply rooted in ideology that it can be difficult to make appeals to reason or Church teaching.
“Some people are blinded by ideology,” said Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, who was just elected USCCB secretary. “And their first loyalty isn’t necessarily to the Church.”
But Bishop Rhoades told the Register that he thinks that group is a minority, even among Trump voters.
“I know a lot of Catholics who may have voted one way, but they’re with the Church on this issue,” said Bishop Rhoades, an adviser to the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission who has raised concerns about immigration-enforcement detainees lacking adequate access to the sacraments.
The key, he said, is continuing to explain the Church’s teaching on immigration, which he has found to be an effective approach in his diocese. ‘
https://www.ncregister.com/news/us-bishops-2025-message-on-immigration