PALM BEACH GARDENS | He might have quipped he is not a cousin of A-Rod, but this Rodríguez is so much better for the soul of the Church along Florida’s Gold Coast.
On Dec. 19, 2025, Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Palm Beach, and appointed Bishop-elect Manuel de Jesus Rodríguez, a priest of the Brooklyn Diocese and a native of the Dominican Republic, as the new shepherd of the southeast five-county diocese.
The announcement was made during press conference Dec. 19, in the Family Life Center of the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens. The conference was also livestreamed on Facebook.
Bishop Barbarito, himself a native of Brooklyn, introduced the bishop-elect, a priest ordained for the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, July 3, 2004. Before his ordination, he was admitted to the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1993, and made his final profession to the Salesians Sept. 22, 2002. He was incardinated into the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2012, where he has served as parochial vicar and pastor of four parishes. He has served as pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Corona, Queens since 2020.
“He is young … a young 50 years of age,” Bishop Barbarito said, receiving laughter. “He is an enthusiastic and pastoral priest, who is described as a ‘priest who walks with the people.’ With all of you, I welcome him to our Diocesan family, which will be greatly blessed by his ministry.”
Bishop Barbarito added just as the diocese is blessed to welcome the bishop, he too looks forward to regarding Bishop-elect Rodríguez as “my bishop.”
“As of today, I am officially the Bishop-emeritus of the Diocese of Palm Beach and also appointed its apostolic administrator until the day of Bishop-elect Rodríguez’s ordination,” Bishop Barbarito said. There is not set date for the ordination, although it might occur in February 2026.
There are many times that Pope Leo XIV — a staunch Chicago White Sox fan — will speak about his favorite baseball team. And after more than two decades serving South Florida, it was time for Bishop Barbarito to announce his baseball allegiance. His answer? Of course it was Brooklyn… But not the Yankees, but the Brooklyn Dodgers. The answer got laughs, especially since the Brooklyn Dodgers were a team before the bishop-elect was born. But that was the team that played when a young Gerald Barbarito lived in Brooklyn, and the team reminds him of a time when great values — love for family and love for a country that welcomes others — were paramount.
“It’s great we are going forward in technological advances, but we need to get back to what makes us a person — where the heart comes first,” Bishop Barbarito said. “That is why we are blessed with a new shepherd who will help us grow as a family — a family of Christ. It is my great privilege to present to you Bishop-elect Manuel de Jesus Rodríguez.”
After formally introducing himself, the bishop-elect confessed his own baseball allegiance. He joked while his last name is “Rodríguez” and he was born in the Dominican Republic where baseball treated “almost as a religion,” he clarified “I am not a cousin of Alex Rodríguez,” the Miami native and baseball phenom known as A-Rod.
“But with all due respect to the (Miami) Marlins, I must confess that I am a lifelong Yankees fan,” the bishop-elect said to laughter. He added his also on “friendly terms” with the New York Mets, since he serves at a parish in Corona, Queens, just “steps” from Citi Field (Flushing Meadows–Corona Park), where the Mets play.
With baseball and Brooklyn as a common thread, the present and future shepherds have been speaking with one another since the younger man received a call from the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christoph Pierre. It was a Sunday afternoon, and Father Fernandez’s phone registered a call as “Apostolic Nunciature.” He answered the call and was immediately told he was appointed by the Holy Father as the new bishop of Palm Beach. Like so many other priests who have received such a phone call, Father Rodríguez was a little shocked and wondered if it was a joke.
“I must confess that I only managed to hear the words ‘Holy Father’ and ‘beach,’” the priest said, garnering laughter. “I replied: ‘Are you certain that you are the Apostolic Nuncio? Is this perhaps some kind of artificial-intelligence prank or something of the sort?’ Cardinal Pierre, laughing kindly, assured me that it was indeed he and that I should believe him precisely because it was he. At that moment, I recognized his unmistakable French accent and realized the call was genuine.
And then, he recalled honestly, he “freaked out,” another common reaction from priests who had received that call. To calm down, he spoke with his own shepherd, Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn, and then received a call from a gentle shepherd he had never met.
“I received an encouraging, wonderful call from Bishop Barbarito, with whom I have remained in constant contact ever since, and to whom I shall always be deeply grateful for his exquisite kindness, fraternal spirit, and pastoral accompaniment,” Bishop-elect Rodríguez said.
The bishop-elect earned a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in 2016, and a doctorate in canon law from the University of Navarre in Spain in 2019.Along with serving on a parish level, the priest is a canon lawyer who served as the defender of the bond on the diocesan tribunal since 2017 and has extensive experience in penal canon law and pastoral leadership. During his remarks, the multilingual priest (he speaks Spanish, French, English and Italian) recalled the words of St. John Bosco, in whose spiritual school he was formed, “no effort is too great when it concerns the Church and the Pope.”
“I do not bring much with me — only myself and my faith in Christ Jesus, whom I follow as my Lord and Savior, and whom I will serve all my life,” he said. “I come, however, as a soldier of the Church, determined to join you, dear members of the pilgrim Church in Palm Beach, to walk with you and support you in what you are already doing in our shared mission of extending the Kingdom of God in this land of the Lord.”
The bishop-elect reiterated he does not arrive in Florida with an agenda. “I am here because the church is calling me,” he said. He hopes to share his faithful with all of the diocese and serve, support and accompany the work the diocese is already doing.
“Our local Church today enjoys peace, has achieved remarkable pastoral development, and is well prepared to continue advancing along the path of evangelization, solidarity, Christian education of our children and youth, the defense of life and human dignity, and the pursuit of an ever more just society,” the bishop-elect said. “Thank you, dear Bishop Barbarito, for having helped this Diocesan Church accomplish so much. Your name will be remembered with profound respect and reverence in this Diocese.”
Bishop Barbarito came to serve the Diocese of Palm Beach in 2003, after serving as bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg in northern New York. As Bishop Barbarito transitions to retirement, he said he looks forward to spending more time in prayer and study. And he won’t be packing his back and moving back to Brooklyn.
“I will remain here in Palm Beach, which has become my home as it has for so many others from New York,” he said to rousing applause. “I thank all of you for being the wonderful family of faith, hope, and love that you are. I look forward to my continued home here assisting the new bishop pastorally, in any manner I can. I also look forward to more time for prayer and study.”
