Moscow archbishop resigns at 65
May 04, 2026
Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, F.S.C.B., as head of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow. Archbishop Pezzi, 65, had led the archdiocese since 2007.
“The final years of Pezzi’s tenure as Archbishop of Moscow were overshadowed by Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine—a conflict that the Pope and the universal Catholic Church firmly reject—in contrast to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which continues to justify the war to this day,” Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, reported. The agency offered no reason for the archbishop’s early resignation, accepted ten years before Canon 401 requires bishops to tender their resignation.
The Pontiff appointed Auxiliary Bishop Nikolai Dubinin, O.F.M. Conv., as the Russian archdiocese’s apostolic administrator until a new archbishop is named.
“A native Russian born in 1973—the son of an Orthodox father and a Catholic mother—he attended the seminary in Moscow in the 1990s, where he was also ordained a priest,” Vatican News reported. In 2020, Dubinin became the first Russian-born Catholic bishop in over a century, according to the agency.
The Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow is a vast jurisdiction of 1,015,063 square miles: over one-quarter of the size of the United States. The archdiocese has 70,200 Catholics, 63 parishes, and 18 mission stations, according to the Annuario Pontificio. Forty-six diocesan priests and 45 religious priests minister there.
For all current news, visit our News home page.
Further information:
- Resignations and Appointments, 02.05.2026 (Holy See Press Office, 5/2/26)
- Vatikan/Russland: Papst nimmt Rücktritt von Paolo Pezzi an (5/2/26)
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
