Santo Domingo has a new archbishop: Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán. He succeeds Francisco Ozoria Acosta, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Leo XIV after he reached the episcopal retirement age of 75.

Morel Diplán had been appointed by Pope Leo as coadjutor archbishop of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Oct. 18, 2025, with the automatic right of succession.

As reported by the Vatican Press Office on Oct. 12 and by mandate of the Holy Father, the new archbishop of Santo Domingo also assumes the office of Military Ordinary of the Dominican Republic, a role previously held by Ozoria.

Ozoria offers Mass of Thanksgiving

On Sunday, Oct. 11, Ozoria, now archbishop emeritus of Santo Domingo, offered a Mass of Thanksgiving for his years of episcopal service. He spent 10 of those years serving the primatial see of the Americas, the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, erected in 1546, the first in the Western Hemisphere.

“I do not cease to be a bishop; I do not cease to be a priest; I am resigning from pastoral governance,” the prelate stated during the Mass in the Santo Domingo cathedral, concelebrated by Morel Diplán and other Dominican prelates, according to the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo.

“Every Eucharist is an act of thanksgiving to the Lord,” the archbishop emeritus said, highlighting that “the way to exercise the priesthood is in the manner of Jesus Christ, who gives life to the world through his death on the cross.”

New archbishop of Santo Domingo

Morel Diplán was born on Nov. 2, 1969, in Monte de la Jagua, Moca, in Espaillat Province. He was ordained a priest on June 24, 2000, for the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic.

He has served as rector, vice-rector, and professor at the seminary; vocations director; parish priest, vicar, and parish administrator; collaborator with various diocesan curia bodies; and professor and director of the School for the Permanent Diaconate in Santiago de los Caballeros.

On Dec. 14, 2016, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Santiago de los Caballeros. On Dec. 2, 2023, he was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of La Vega, and on Oct. 18, 2024, he was named bishop of the same diocese.

On Oct. 18, 2025, he was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Santo Domingo.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.