Seán Patrick O'Malley (born June 29, 1944) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Boston from 2003 to 2024 and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors from 2014 to 2025. He is also a founding member of the Council of Cardinals, formed by Pope Francis in 2013. A member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, he was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.
O'Malley was previously Bishop of Palm Beach from 2002 to 2003, Bishop of Fall River from 1992 to 2002, and Bishop of Saint Thomas from 1985 to 1992, after more than a year there as coadjutor.
Biography Early life Patrick O'Malley was born on June 29, 1944, in Lakewood, Ohio, the son of Theodore and Mary Louise (née Reidy) O'Malley. Both parents were of Irish descent. O'Malley, his sister, and his older brother grew up in the South Hills area south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in Reading, Pennsylvania. At age 12, he entered St. Fidelis High School Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania, a boarding school for students who were considering joining the Franciscan order. While there, in addition to studying the normal high school subjects, he also studied Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, German, and Hebrew, while also being active in theatre.
After graduating from St. Fidelis, O'Malley attended Capuchin College and the Catholic University of America (CUA), both in Washington, D.C. On July 14, 1965, at age 21, O'Malley professed his vows in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and took the name Seán in honor of John the Apostle. He took his perpetual vows with the Capuchins in 1968.
As a subdeacon in 1968, he spent several months ministering with the Capuchins in the mountainous area around Utuado, Puerto Rico. After he was ordained a deacon, the Capuchins originally planned to send O'Malley to work in their missions on Easter Island, Chile; he even learned the local language, Rapa Nui, in preparation. However, before he could leave, the Archbishop of Washington asked O'Malley's provincial superior to keep him in Washington to work with an influx of thousands of Central American refugees.
Priesthood O'Malley was ordained a priest for the Capuchins at St. Augustine Church in Pittsburgh on August 29, 1970, at age 26, by Auxiliary Bishop John McDowell. After his ordination, O'Malley graduated from CUA with a master's degree in religious education and a Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese literature. He served as a professor at CUA from 1969 to 1973.
After finishing at CUA, the Capuchins asked O'Malley to minister to Latinos at the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, D.C. He opened a Spanish bookstore there and founded El Pregonero, the first Spanish language newspaper in the area. O'Malley reports that he says his daily prayers in Spanish.
In 1978, Cardinal William Baum appointed O'Malley as episcopal vicar for the Portuguese, Hispanic, and Haitian communities in the Archdiocese of Washington. Baum also appointed him as executive director of the archdiocesan Office of Social Ministry.
O'Malley later called his time in Washington an "uplifting experience and indeed a privilege and honeymoon of my priesthood”. He said that it led him to develop a lifelong commitment to social justice and the care of new immigrants.
Bishop of Saint Thomas
O'Malley was appointed coadjutor bishop of Saint Thomas on June 2, 1984, by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on August 2, 1984, from Bishop Edward Harper, with Archbishop James Hickey and Bishop Eugene Marino serving as co-consecrators. He was the first bishop of St. Thomas to be ordained on the Island of St. Thomas. O'Malley succeeded as bishop of Saint Thomas on October 16, 1985, when John Paul II accepted Harper's resignation.
O'Malley describes the Diocese of St. Thomas as a missionary diocese when he arrived, with a total annual budget of only $30,000. One of his first endeavors was to establish a Catholic newspaper, The Catholic Islander (now a triennial magazine), and a television station to unify the diocese across the islands and make people more aware of what was happening in other parishes.
In 1987, O'Malley established the Bethlehem House shelter for the homeless on St. Thomas and soon after opened a similar shelter on St. Croix. He also established a home for people suffering from HIV/AIDS.
O'Malley described Hurricane Hugo, which struck in 1989, as the biggest challenge of his tenure in the US Virgin Islands. His residence was destroyed and the islands were without water, electricity, and phones for six months and without television for a year.
After an appeal from O'Malley, Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, sent a plane-load of generators to St. Croix. This was the first plane to land on the island after Hurricane Hugo. With the generators, O'Malley was able to open the Catholic schools in tents almost immediately, while the public schools remained closed for nearly two years.
O'Malley was named an honorary chaplain of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1991.
Bishop of Fall River
On June 16, 1992, John Paul II appointed O'Malley as bishop of Fall River. He was installed on August 11, 1992. As bishop, O'Malley first attempted to settle the sexual abuse scandal in the Fall River diocese.
In 1998, John Paul II appointed O'Malley to the Special Assembly for Oceania of the Synod of Bishops.
Bishop of Palm Beach
On September 3, 2002, John Paul II appointed O'Malley as bishop of Palm Beach. He was installed on October 19, 2002. O'Malley also tried to overcome the abuse scandal there. He also worked closely with the Portuguese-speaking and Hispanic population there.
Archbishop of Boston
Known as a fixer in various Roman Catholic dioceses plagued by sexual abuse scandals, O'Malley was appointed by John Paul II as archbishop of Boston on July 1, 2003. He succeeded Cardinal Bernard Law, who had resigned as archbishop as a consequence of the sexual abuse scandal in the archdiocese.
Cardinal
Pope Benedict XVI elevated O'Malley to the rank of cardinal-priest in the consistory of March 24, 2006. O'Malley was assigned the titular church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. In May 2007, Benedict XVI named O'Malley as a member of both the Congregation for the Clergy and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in the Roman Curia. In late September 2009, he became a member of the Presidential Council of the Pontifical Council for the Family.
In September 2006, O'Malley became the first cardinal to create a personal blog. In December 2006, he began offering a regular podcast as well. He viewed the podcasts as "yet another tool [he] can use to reach the young people in our Church who more and more are turning to the Internet for their information."
In June 2010, after the Ryan Report and Murphy Report on the abuses by the Church in Ireland, O'Malley was named along with others to oversee the apostolic visitation of certain dioceses and seminaries in Ireland. O'Malley was named as the visitor to the Archdiocese of Dublin and its suffragan dioceses of Ferns, Ossory, Kildare and Leighlin. He reported back to the Holy See on what steps the dioceses and seminaries had taken since the two reports were issued, and what else needed to happen.
O'Malley participated in the 2013 papal conclave, which elected Pope Francis. During the conclave, O'Malley was considered papabile, a contender for election to the papacy.
On April 13, 2013, O'Malley was appointed to a group of eight cardinals established by Francis a month after his election, to advise him and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, Pastor bonus. The pope was already in contact with the members of this group. O'Malley accompanied Francis on a papal visit to Cuba on September 20, 2015.
O'Malley praised the new tone of Francis' papacy. He stated, however, that those who expected doctrinal changes from Francis on sexual ethics like abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage would be disappointed. He also indicated that Francis would not alter the ban on communion for Catholics who divorced, then remarried, and that O'Malley saw no theological justification for doing so.
On March 22, 2014, Francis appointed O'Malley to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and on December 17 of that year made him the commission's president.
On January 14, 2017, Pope Francis named O'Malley a member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. On October 15, 2020, the pope renewed O'Malley's term on the Council of Cardinal Advisers.
O’Malley is the Grand Prior of the USA Northeastern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
Retirement In July 2019, the archdiocese announced that O'Malley had agreed to accept Pope Francis' request to remain as archbishop of Boston "for a few more years"; he had submitted his letter of resignation to the pope upon turning 75 years of age, per canon law.July 3, 2019 - Statement Of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Boston Archdiocese of Boston, accessed April 24, 2020 Archdiocese spokesperson Terry Donilon said that O'Malley was "really relieved" about the pope's decision and that "He loves being the archbishop of Boston and so we're pleased that that was settled right out of the box." The archdiocese statement also said that "The Cardinal is pleased to have the continued confidence of the Holy Father and looks forward to continuing to serve the people of God in Boston and in support of the Pope’s ministry in leading the universal church."In August 2024, as O'Malley approached his 80th birthday, Francis finally accepted O'Malley's resignation as archbishop of Boston. The pope appointed Bishop Richard Henning from the Diocese of Providence as his successor. O'Malley continued to administer the archdiocese as apostolic administrator until Henning's installation on October 31. At Pope Francis' request, he continued to serve as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. His tenure at that Commission concluded when Pope Leo XIV appointed his successor on July 5, 2025.
Views Abortion In November 2007 interview with the Boston Globe, O'Malley said that the Democratic Party had been persistently hostile to anti-abortion groups. He said the fact that many Catholic voters supported Democratic candidates "border[ed] on scandal."
In a November 2008 interview with the Boston Globe, O'Malley said that he would not deny communion to Catholic politicians in his diocese who supported legalized abortion unless the Vatican formally excommunicated them.
Despite criticism from conservative Catholics, including commentator Raymond Arroyo of Eternal Word Television Network, of his participation in the funeral service for US Senator Ted Kennedy, a long-standing supporter of legalized abortion, O'Malley assisted at the funeral mass and led a prayer. He called for less contentious political dialogue: "We will not change hearts by turning away from people in their time of need and when they are experiencing grief and loss." He said he appreciated Kennedy's work for social justice, but that "there is a tragic sense of lost opportunity in his lack of support for the unborn".
Caritas Christi and abortion services