Vatican City.– The Pope Leo XIV was scheduled to receive this Saturday in a private audience archbishop of Santo Domingo, Monsignor Francisco Ozoria Acostabarely a week after the prelate publicly expressed his discomfort at having been left, in practice, without functions at the head of the Archdioceseafter the appointment of a coadjutor archbishop with administrative powers full.
It is striking that before Ozoria’s audience, Pope Leo XIV will receive the prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Filippo Iannone, the Vatican body that was in charge of the investigations and recommendations in relation to the decision adopted in the archdiocese of Santo Domingo.
The meeting, which appears published in the daily agenda of the Pope Leo XIV disclosed by the press office of the Vaticanoccurs after Ozoria communicated in an internal letter that a large part of his pastoral and administrative responsibilities had been assigned to the newly appointed coadjutor archbishop, a figure that, although provided for in the Canon lawis usually used in cases of illness, incapacity or orderly transition of a diocese.
Ozoria had been scheduled to travel to Rome before the emergence of the controversy to participate in the Jubilee of the Choirs in the Vatican that is celebrated on the occasion of the jubilee year, but his audience with Pope Leo now has a different nuance because it occurs after Ozoria divulged among those close to him a letter in which he attributed the removal of his administrative functions and management of the clergy to the intrigues of his enemies.
In his statements, Ozoria indicated that he felt “administration section” and “reduced” to a merely symbolic role in the leadership of the Primate Archdiocese of America.
Today’s meeting is interpreted as a space for Ozoria to directly explain to the Holy Father his position and his complaints because his powers were withdrawn, although it draws attention to the fact that he will receive it immediately after meeting with the prefect for the bishops.
He Pope Leo XIV is aware of the case of Saint Dominic because himself He was prefect of the dicastery for Bishops when the process for the appointment of a coadjutor archbishop in Santo Domingo began and after being elected Pope he had meetings with the apostolic nuncio in the Dominican Republic, Monsignor Piergigio Bertoni. The process began with the approval of the then Pope Francis and the current Pope Leo XIV, then Cardinal Robert Prevost, at the head of the aforementioned dicastery.
Although agenda items with Pepe are usually kept confidential, after the revelations made by the monsignor himself Francisco Ozoria His role has not been specified during the transition that begins until his resignation occurs, which must occur in obligatory way for the fulfillment of 75 years in October 2026.
The appointment of a coadjutor archbishop with broad powers is not common in the Dominican Republic. Although there are historical precedents, these have generally responded to situations of health or advanced age, which does not apply to the case of Ozoria.
