Dominican-born priest Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez named Bishop of Palm Beach

The Dominican-born Queens priest Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez has been named the new Bishop of Palm Beach, Pope Leo XIV’s latest immigrant appointment to the growing U.S. episcopacy.

The news was announced publicly on Friday morning via Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the United States, quickly followed by comments from the 51-year-old bishop-elect published in The Tablet, the newspaper for the Diocese of Brooklyn.

“These years that I have been ministering in the Diocese of Brooklyn are among the happiest of my life,” said Rodríguez, who was in Florida for a press conference with the Diocese of Palm Beach at the time the news broke.

“Throughout these experiences, I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve a diocese that is tremendously gifted about sharing love and sharing the joy of the Gospel.  “

Born in 1974 in Santo Domingo, Rodríguez was raised in the Dominican Republic and entered the Salesians of Don Bosco in his late teens, later professing final vows in 2002. As a seminarian, Rodríguez served as a missionary in Cuba before being ordained to the priesthood in 2004.

Rodríguez has earned licentiates in canon law from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra in Santo Domingo and the Catholic University of America in Washington, as well as a licentiate in education from the Universidad Católica Santo Domingo, a master’s in education from the Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, a doctorate in legal studies from the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, and a doctorate in canon law from the University of Navarre.

Rodríguez’s early ministry included several educational posts in the Dominican Republic before he came to New York in 2009. He served as a parish priest in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood for three years before being dispensed from his Salesian vows and incardinated into the Diocese of Brooklyn by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. He has since served at other churches in Brooklyn and Queens and was appointed as defender of the bond on the diocesan tribunal in 2017.

At present, Rodríguez serves as pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Corona, Queens, where he was installed in 2020. He made national headlines during the global COVID-19 pandemic, when the parish was seen to be at the center of the outbreak in the area. Rodríguez lost more than 100 parishioners to illness in the first year, with the church becoming a touchpoint of endurance, faith, and health safety.

Fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, and English, Rodríguez has served in several immigrant-dominated parishes in New York, including with communities from Latin America and the Caribbean. In his ministry and public presence, Rodríguez has advocated on a variety of social issues, including racism, political corruption (including that of President Donald Trump), gender ideology, the death penalty, and abortion. 

Rodríguez has also spoken out in defense of immigrants and against punitive policies, including mass deportations. On other issues, like the Gaza War and the death of Charlie Kirk, he has publicly aligned with more conservative viewpoints.

Upon his installation in Florida, Rodríguez will become the first U.S. diocesan ordinary of Dominican descent, and the second such prelate overall—after Auxiliary Bishop Joseph A. Espaillat of New York. Rodríguez will succeed Bishop Gerald Barbarito of Palm Beach, who submitted his age-mandated retirement request earlier this year at 75.

Rodríguez's consecration will take place in Palm Beach at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius of Loyola on a date in early 2026 that is yet to be determined.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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