(RNS) \u2014 In agenda-setting speeches for the beginning of their terms as leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church on Wednesday (June 10), Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, Pope Leo XIV\u2019s new diplomatic representative in the U.S., emphasized their unity with the pope and each other as they tackled some of the church\u2019s most pressing problems.<\/p>\n
During Pope Francis\u2019 pontificate, the conference did not always appear to prioritize his keystone initiatives, particularly around environmental teaching and dialogue known as synodality. As church observers watched closely to see what kind of posture the new U.S. leaders might take toward Leo\u2019s papacy, Coakley\u2019s repeated citations of the first U.S.-born pope and references to his teachings may be signaling a closer relationship between the Vatican and U.S. church, though the meeting\u2019s public agenda does not include any sessions dedicated to artificial intelligence or Leo\u2019s first encyclical, \u201cMagnifica Humanitas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aToday, in an age of constant flux, of forced migration, polarization, disruptions, climatic and economic upheavals, artificial intelligence, and wars,\u201d Coakley said during his presidential address to the conference, \u201cto restore hope in such a time as this, the truth of Christ must be proclaimed all the more confidently.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a January meeting with President Donald Trump, Coakley, the ecclesiastical adviser for the Napa Institute, a powerful group of conservative Catholics, was the first president of the bishops\u2019 conference to meet with a U.S. president in over a decade. Coakley mentioned that \u201ccordial visit\u201d in his address but acknowledged that U.S. bishops \u201crecognize the need for further progress\u201d when it comes to Trump and his administration. \u201cNevertheless, we must stay in the conversation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Though some commentators had worried<\/a> Coakley\u2019s election would lead to a more accommodating stance to the Trump administration, Coakley told his fellow bishops the goal for the conference should be to place \u201cfaith before politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Archbishop Paul Coakley, center, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, presides over a USCCB meeting Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (Video screen grab)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201c\u200aWe are working on ways to promote faithful citizenship through dialogue, a deeper realization of who is our neighbor by placing faith before politics, a faith that inspires hope, respect and the pursuit of the common good,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not always easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the political goals Coakley named in his speech were reduced polarization, meaningful immigration reform and the defense of human dignity.<\/p>\n In the face of \u201cthreats to the unborn, to the elderly, to the sick, and to the suffering through the violence of wars and injustice,\u201d Coakley urged his fellow bishops to preach that \u201c\u200ahuman life can never be adequately valued based on its being useful or useless\u201d and that \u201clife is a gift from God.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aHuman dignity is also threatened by the scourge of racism, by abuse, by disdain and contempt, especially toward the poor, the stranger, the condemned and the outcast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Coakley also emphasized the importance of the bishops\u2019 November statement opposing indiscriminate mass deportations. \u201cThe concern \u2014 the grief over how people are being treated \u2014 expressed in our message remains as relevant now, six months later, as it did last November,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-USCCB-Orlando1.jpg\")
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