US Cardinal Sean O’Malley, known for championing survivors of sexual abuse and pushing the Catholic Church to reform, is stepping down as the Archbishop of Boston, the Vatican announced Monday.
The 80-year-old will be replaced by Richard Henning, the 59-year-old bishop of Providence, to helm the fourth-largest diocese in the United States, the Vatican said in a statement.
It did not give a reason, saying only that Pope Francis had accepted O’Malley’s resignation.
In the Catholic Church, bishops who lead a diocese have a traditional retirement age of 75, but the pope has the discretion to ask them to stay on longer.
For now, O’Malley remains head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, a body created by Pope Francis to fight paedophilia by priests that the bishop has led since 2014.
O’Malley’s resignation ends a two-decade chapter leading Catholics in the largely Irish and Italian city of …