Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Mark O’Connell the 11th Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, New York. He will succeed Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, 77, whose resignation due to age was accepted Oct. 20 by the Holy Father. Bishop O’Connell is expected to be installed on Dec. 5, 2025.
Bishop Scharfenberger will host a press conference at 1 p.m. at the Albany diocese’s Pastoral Center to introduce Bishop O’Connell. The press conference will be live-streamed at www.facebook.com/DioceseOfAlbany.
According to the Diocese of Albany website, the diocese has 126 parishes, four apostolates, and 157 worship sites serving a Catholic population of approximately 325,000. It covers a 14-county area of about 10,400 square miles, roughly the size of the entire state of Massachusetts.
In a statement released following the announcement, Archbishop Richard Henning said, “I have had the blessing over the last year to work with Bishop Mark O’Connell. He is a remarkably capable man and very humble. He loves people and he loves the priests of our archdiocese. He has served Boston joyfully and effectively for decades. While we are sorry to lose him here in Boston we rejoice with the clergy, religious, and lay faithful of the Diocese of Albany. We are sending you our best and wishing you and your new bishop every blessing!”. See rest of announcement here.