{"id":243995,"date":"2025-11-13T09:29:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=243995"},"modified":"2025-11-26T11:09:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:09:33","slug":"major-changes-happening-in-the-dominican-roman-catholic-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2025\/11\/13\/major-changes-happening-in-the-dominican-roman-catholic-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Major changes happening in the Dominican Roman Catholic Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church are regarded as highly influential in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government over the years has been highly supportive of the churches, especially the Roman Catholic Church. All presidential aspirants and Presidents have routinely visited with the Pope in Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus is now on the recent appointments of Carlos Tomas Morel Diplan as coadjutor bishop for the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo and that of Manuel Ruiz as bishop of the newly created Stella Maris diocese in Eastern Santo Domingo, a region that has the largest in population in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series of recent announcements by the Roman Catholic Church and parallel support of the Dominican government to church officials have kept the happenings of the Roman curia in the Dominican media. It is that an extraordinary consistory, or the meeting of the College of Cardinals was called on 6 November 2025 from the Vatican See. Pope Leo XIV convened the around 250 cardinals to Rome for 7-8 January 2026. The topic for this meeting of all cardinals has not yet been announced, as reported in Rome Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consistories are not held on a fixed annual schedule but are called by the Pope as needed to create new cardinals (ordinary public consistory) or to discuss important Church matters. Pope Leo XIV held an ordinary public consistory, his first, on 13 June 2025 to vote on causes for canonization. He had assumed as Pope on 8 May 2025. Previously, the late Pope Francis held a consistory on 7 December 2024 to create 21 new cardinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of the ruling of the Roman Catholic Church, for its population the Dominican Republic is assigned one cardinal. The Cardinal is elected for life. 89-year old Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriguez has been the Dominican cardinal since 1991, yet is ailing, and his demise could be announced any day. Upon his demise, the Vatican would then announce a new Dominican cardinal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is new in the Dominican Republic is the announcement of the appointment of La Vega bishop, Carlos Tomas Morel Diplan as coadjutor bishop of Santo Domingo. The bishop position in Santo Domingo is the most important in the country. A press release from the office of the Vice President of the Republic made the announcement public on Monday, 10 November 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A coadjutor bishop is an assistant to the diocesan bishop with a crucial distinction: the coadjutor has the automatic right of succession. This means that when the current diocesan bishop retires, dies, or leaves office, the coadjutor automatically becomes the new bishop, ensuring a seamless transition of leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vice President Rachel Pe\u00f1a and Minister of the Presidency Jose Ignacio Paliza were present at Morel Diplan’s first mass at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo that marked the start of his new position as replacement of Santo Domingo Archbishop Francisco Ozoria. During the mass, the Apostolic Nuncio, the representative of the Vatican See, Piergiorgio Bertoldi gave testimony to the work and aptitude of Morel Diplan to guide the population. Santo Domingo Archbishop Ozoria was not present at the mass. Francisco Ozoria was named Archbishop of Santo Domingo in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Santo Domingo position carries the lead in the shaping of the church. The current Archbishop Ozoria has appointed several of the current bishops, including Morel Diplan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ozoria, though, is 74 years old. By canonic law, a bishop should retire at 75 years. For him to become the replacement of Cardinal Nicolas at the latter\u2019s death is now unlikely, since Ozoria would have to request an extension of his term. The appointment of the coadjutor by the Pope makes this unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter to his constituency, Ozoria expresses his displeasure with how things have gone with the Vatican, as reported in Diario Libre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archbishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta believes he has been suspended from the administration of the patrimony and financial affairs of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, according to a letter he addressed to the faithful this week, as reported in Diario Libre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his message, Ozoria explained that the Holy See has appointed a coadjutor archbishop with \u201cspecial faculties,\u201d granting him exclusive authority over the diocese\u2019s economic and administrative matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I turned 73 \u2014 two years before my retirement \u2014 I requested through the Apostolic Nunciature the appointment of a Coadjutor Archbishop,\u201d Ozoria wrote. \u201cAt age 74, the Holy See has now named the coadjutor I requested. My surprise is that the appointed Coadjutor Archbishop has special and exclusive faculties for the administration of diocesan patrimony, financial and economic matters, as well as the management of clergy and Church personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the letter, these faculties mean that Archbishop Ozoria will retain only the title of Metropolitan Archbishop of Santo Domingo, but without governing authority in the mentioned areas once the new coadjutor officially assumes office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems I have been left only with the title,\u201d he wrote, adding that he has never been motivated by positions or honors. \u201cWhat I have liked least are titles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ozoria, who has served 47 years as a priest and 28 as a bishop, said he remains at peace and faithful to the Church despite what he interprets as a disciplinary measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccording to the Apostolic Letters, I am being suspended \u2018for poor administration\u2019; that is how it must be understood,\u201d he stated. \u201cI was never admonished or warned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The archbishop emphasized his lifelong obedience and dedication to the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have served the Church in fidelity and obedience. I belong to the Church, I love the Church, and I obey the Church,\u201d he affirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ozoria concluded his message by recalling the words of his mentor, Bishop Jes\u00fas Mar\u00eda de Jes\u00fas Moya, who once told him: \u201cA bishop must have the vocation of a martyr.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 27 August 2025, Pope Leon XIV created the new Dominican diocese Stella Maris, made up of the municipalities of Santo Domingo East, San Antonio de Guerra and Boca Chica that previously were under the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo. Given the population, this diocese would be the largest in the Dominican Republic. Pope Leon XIV named Manuel Antonio Ruiz de la Rosa as the first bishop for the diocese. Ruiz is known for his outstanding entrepreneurial skills and leadership. He has been criticized for his staunch support of the Roman Catholic Church when handling of accusations of pedophile practices of Papal Nuncio Wesolowski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:
Rome Reports <\/a>
Vice President Office <\/a>
El Caribe <\/a>
Noticias SIN <\/a>
El Caribe <\/a>
Diario Libre <\/a>
Diario Libre <\/a>
Diario Libre <\/a>
CDN <\/a>
Past statements by Morel Diplan <\/a>
Diario Libre <\/a>
Background Morel Diplan <\/a>
Diario Libre <\/a>
Listin Diario <\/a>
Acento <\/a>
Presidency <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

13 November 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church are regarded as highly influential in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government over the years has been highly supportive of the churches, especially the Roman Catholic Church. All presidential aspirants and Presidents have routinely visited with the Pope in Rome. The focus is now on the recent appointments … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[337,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243995"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244639,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243995\/revisions\/244639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}