Archbishop appointed for massive Caribbean see; described defense of life, marriage as top priority

October 21, 2025

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán as coadjutor archbishop of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic—a massive archdiocese that retained 2.54 million Catholics after it was recently split in two.

Bishop Morel, 55, will succeed Archbishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta, 74, upon his retirement. Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Ozaria to the see in 2016, but did not name him a cardinal—unlike the archbishop’s two predecessors, Cardinal Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas (archbishop from 1961-1981) and Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez (1981-2016).

Born in 1969 and ordained to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros in 2000, Bishop Morel was appointed an auxiliary bishop of his archdiocese in 2017 and bishop of Vega in 2024. At his installation as bishop of Vega last December, Bishop Morel said that his top three priorities were “the defense of life from conception to natural death, the strengthening and protection of marriages and the family; secondly, the creation of a vocational culture and listening to one another; and thirdly, the strengthening of catechesis,” according to a summary of his remarks in Proceso.

Pope Leo’s appointment of Bishop Morel on October 18 followed his appointment, the previous day, of Msgr. Josef Grünwidl as archbishop of Vienna; the latter prelate has called for several times for the end of the discipline of mandatory priestly celibacy in the Latin rite. While the Archdiocese of Vienna is perhaps historically more prominent, the Santo Domingo archdiocese is today far larger than Vienna, which has 1.13 million Catholics.

 

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Further information:

• Resignations and Appointments, 18.10.2025 (Holy See Press Office)
• Pope splits up massive archdiocese in Dominican Republic (CWN, 8/28/25)
• Nuevo Obispo de La Vega adelanta seguirá trabajando por la vida desde la concepción (Proceso, 12/7/24)