By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was elected president of the influential U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Tuesday, in an election that may signal a conservative shift in church leadership, according to a statement by the New York Archdiocese and published reports.
Dolan won the 128-111 victory over Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., the current vice president of the organization, the statement noted. The election marked the first time that a USCCB vice president has been defeated in his bid for the presidency — a fact that served to underscore the political significance of the election, and solidifies Dolan's position as leader of the Catholic Church in the U.S., the New York Times said.
Dolan is considered to have more conservative views than Kicanas, who represents the "social justice" tradition of the church, which tries to bridge the views of Catholic liberals and traditionalists, according to the Times.
Replacing Kicanas as vice president is Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, whom the Times identified as an "outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage."
Dolan made headlines last June when he was selected by Pope Benedict XVI to serve on a panel investigating the church sex abuse scandals and again last month, when he was passed over for the cardinalate.
