DiNardo hospitalized after suffering ‘mild stroke’

Mar 16, 2019

|National Correspondent

DiNardo hospitalized after suffering ‘mild stroke’ — Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is pictured during an interview at the Pontifical North American College in Rome Feb. 24, 2019. DiNardo represented the U.S. bishops at the Vatican’s four-day meeting on the protection of minors in the Church. (Credit: CNS.)

NEW YORK — Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston and the current president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is recovering in a Texas hospital after suffering a mild stroke.

A statement from the archdiocese released on Saturday said DiNardo was taken to the hospital on Friday and underwent tests, which confirmed on Saturday that he had suffered a mild stroke.

“The Cardinal is resting comfortably and conversing with associates, doctors and nurses. It is expected that Cardinal DiNardo will remain hospitalized for a few more days of testing and observation, followed by a transfer to another facility for rehabilitation,” said the statement.

“He is grateful to the doctors and nurses for their wonderful care and for continued prayers during his recovery. Cardinal DiNardo said, ‘With so much to do, I am looking forward to getting back to work as soon as possible,’” it continued.

DiNardo, who is 69 years old, has had a particularly full, and, at times, heavily scrutinized tenure as USCCB president.

Since last June, he has led the Church’s response to the reignited clergy abuse crisis, where he traveled to Rome last September to seek a Vatican led investigation into former cardinal and now laicized former priest Theodore McCarrick.

After the pope declined that request, DiNardo sought to push forward new standards for bishops’ conduct and new protocols for reporting misconduct against bishops. His plans to put those proposals to a vote at last November’s USCCB general assembly were halted by Rome after the Vatican said they required more time to review such proposals and their compatibility with canon law.

Last October, he was a delegate during the pope’s month-long Synod on young people, and just last month, he participated in the historic Vatican summit on sex abuse, which brought together the heads of every bishops’ conference from around the globe.

DiNardo told Crux last month that he expects new standards and protocols for bishops’ accountability to be implemented when the bishops’ meet again in June.

In his home diocese, he has come under fire for his handling of two abuse cases, and last November, Texas prosecutors raided the archdiocese for files related to a local priest in question.

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, who currently serves as vice-president of the conference, will, according to the USCCB’s bylaws, assume responsibility for the day to day needs of the USCCB while DiNardo recovers.

DiNardo was elected as president of the USCCB in November 2016, a three-year term that will expire this coming November.