Archbishop Paul Coakley elected president of the USCCB

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on the third ballot of the conference's election on November 11, 2025. The election was held during the USCCB's annual Fall Plenary Assembly.

Archbishop Coakley, 70, replaces outgoing president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, whose three-year term has ended. Coakley's term will begin at the conclusion of the plenary.

Coakley was elected from a slate of 10 candidates.

Other nominated bishops were Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota; Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas; Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston; Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, Illinois; Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia; Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana; Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon; Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis; and Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit.

The president of the USCCB is elected by simple majority vote. If a candidate does not receive a majority after the first two ballots, the top two candidates are then put as the only two options on a third ballot.

During the first ballot, all 10 candidates received votes. Coakley, Flores, and Barron received the most at 67, 52, and 26, respectively.

For the second ballot, Coakley and Flores received 102 and 77 votes, respectively. As this was not a majority of the votes, they were then put on a third ballot.

Following Coakley's election, the bishops voted Flores as vice president of the conference from the remaining nine candidates. Flores received 119 votes and was elected in one ballot.

In years past, it has been somewhat customary that the USCCB's vice president would then be elected president once the president's term was completed. This year, however, the USCCB vice president, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, was ineligible to run as he is 74 years old.

The USCCB's rules state that the president must be below retirement age for the duration of his term. A bishop is required to submit his resignation to the pope upon his 75th birthday, although it may not be immediately accepted.

Flores was 64 years old at the time of his election, meaning he would be eligible to run for conference president in 2028 if he were nominated.