(LifeSiteNews) — The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has elected a new president and vice president for the next three years.
After three rounds of voting Tuesday, the bishops named Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, who was the favorite heading in, as their new president. Brownsville, Texas, Bishop Daniel Flores was selected as vice president.
“I’m humbled by the trust which my brother bishops have placed in me,” Coakley said on X Tuesday.
I’m humbled by the trust which my brother bishops have placed in me by choosing me to serve as president of our episcopal conference. When I became a bishop I chose as my episcopal motto, “Duc in altum,” or “Put Out into the Deep.”
Once again, the Lord is inviting me to put out…
— Archbishop Paul S. Coakley (@ArchbishopOKC) November 11, 2025
Coakley received 67 votes on the first ballot while Flores received 52 at the bishops’ Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore. Others receiving support include Bishop Robert Barron at 26, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bishop Kevin Rhoades at 18, and Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson at 14. Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, who has cracked down on Latin Masses in his archdiocese in recent months, received 14 votes. Coakley eventually bested Flores in a third-round run-off by a vote of 128-109. Flores was later selected as the vice president in a separate tally. A liberal columnist for dissident website National Catholic Reporter called the results “deeply disappointing.”
Coakley and Flores succeed Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio and Archbishop William E. Lori as the outgoing president and vice president, respectively. They walk into a political climate where U.S. President Donald Trump has been repeatedly calling for stricter border policies, deportations, and an end to the climate “con job.” Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly expressed opposition to Trump’s agenda, mostly in indirect ways, though has privately urged U.S. clergy to speak out on his immigration policies. Coakley and Flores themselves have issued statements in support of illegal immigrants.
Coakley’s election was not a surprise. He has served in a variety of roles for the USCCB, most recently as its secretary, a position he has occupied since 2022 when he was chosen over pro-LGBT New Jersey Cardinal Joseph Tobin.
Coakley, 70, is an adviser to the NAPA Institute, a group of Catholic businessmen founded to “serve as a leaven in educating, forming and networking Catholics” in response to the growing secularization of American culture. During a speech Coakley gave to the group in 2022, he warned of the “plague of relativism” and the “eclipse of truth” sweeping every aspect of American life while denouncing the transgender movement as “well-intentioned madness.” His Excellency has denounced transgenderism as “demonic” on other occasions as well.
Coakley has history of supporting Church doctrine on life and sexuality and has said that politicians who support abortion and same-sex “marriage” should be denied the Eucharist. Notably, he was one of a handful of bishops who publicly supported San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s ban on Communion for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2022.
When former U.S. Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò went public with his bombshell testimony in 2018 linking Pope Francis and several other top prelates to the cover-up of abuse by then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Coakley issued a statement saying he has the “deepest respect for Archbishop [Viganò] and his personal integrity,” while calling for a “deeper examination and verification of”’ his claims.
When he was serving as chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development in 2022, Coakley criticized a Supreme Court decision which he said would negatively impact the “threat and challenges of climate change.” In 2022, he said that “the use of the death penalty only contributes to the continued coarsening of society and to the spiral of violence.” In February of this year, Coakley said Trump’s deportation politics are “creating fear and even distress for our immigrant, migrant, and refugee neighbors” while also stating that “illegal immigration is wrong, and renewed efforts should be considered to protect our nation’s borders.”
Coakley came under criticism in 2016 by Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute while serving as chairman of Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
Hichborn issued a report that presented U.S. federal government documents showing CRS as an implementing partner behind lead organization IMA World Health in warehousing and facilitating distribution of 2.25 million units of contraception, including abortifacients and related supplies, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2006 to 2010.
The Lepanto Institute report described how “family planning” was a “key objective” of the Congo program, known as Project AXxes, with CRS’ own medical coordinator acknowledging the contraception-promoting element of the project in a USAID-produced video.
In response, Coakley sent a letter to the nation’s bishops noting that numerous U.S. priests have refused to take part in CRS programs as a result of Hichborn’s efforts. He told them that “Michael Hichborn and his Lepanto Institute are prevailing” while directing them to “encourage your priests not to accept what Hichborn is saying” and continue to “support our international agency.”
Vice President Daniel Flores
Bishop Daniel Flores, 64, is widely seen as a voice for the more moderate and liberal bishops in the U.S. A graduate of the University of Dallas and former secretary of now retired Bishop René Henry Gracida, a staunch supporter of the Latin Mass and outspoken critic of Pope Francis, Flores has won the favor of the Vatican in recent years. He was one of the 12 bishops to sit on the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on Synodality. He also attended the Synod in the Vatican in 2024 and sat at the same table as Cardinal Robert Prevost and pro-LGBT priest James Martin, among others.
Our Synod table from last year, including on the far right, the modest, reserved, and highly intelligent man now known as Pope Leo XIV. pic.twitter.com/vvAj14Pwk0
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) May 8, 2025
Flores previously chaired the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine and has served on a variety of other committees. He has repeatedly denounced the Trump administration’s immigration policies. During a panel discussion at a conference at the Vatican in 2023, Flores said “we don’t ask them about their sexual orientation” referring immigrants who crossing the border. He previously claimed deportation policies represent “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil — not unlike driving someone to an abortion clinic.”
The last four presidents of the USCCB include Archbishop Timothy Broglio (2022-2025), Archbishop José Gomez (2019-2022), Cardinal Daniel DiNardo (2016-2019), and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz (2013-2016). The last four vice presidents of the USCCB include Archbishop William Lori (2022-2025), Archbishop Allen Vigneron (2019-2022), Archbishop José Gomez (2016-2019) and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo (2013-2016).
The bishops will also be voting for new chairmen of the USCCB’s six standing committees. The committees and the candidates are as follows:
- Committee for Religious Liberty (Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, and Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo, Texas).
- Committee on Protection of Children and Young People (Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix and Auxiliary Bishop Mark O’Connell of Boston).
- Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (Bishop Daniel Felton of Duluth, Minnesota, and Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith of Portland, Oregon).
- Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance (Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee and Bishop Edward Lohse of Kalamazoo, Michigan).
- Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis (Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, and Bishop William Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida).
- Committee on International Justice and Peace (Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit).
Each bishop who is elected to oversee a standing committee will serve a one-year “chairman-elect” term followed by a three-year term as chairman beginning at the 2026 Plenary Assembly.