WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver and named as his successor Bishop James R. Golka of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The resignation and appointment were announced by the Vatican on Feb. 7 and publicized in Washington by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Archbishop Aquila, who has led the Denver Archdiocese since 2012, submitted his resignation to Pope Leo on Sept. 24, his 75th birthday, as required by canon law. His successor, Archbishop Golka, 59, a native of Grand Island, Nebraska, was ordained and installed as the third bishop of Colorado Springs on June 29, 2021.
Archbishop Golka will become the ninth bishop of Denver when he is installed March 25 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
"While I am excited to discover God's plan for me in the Archdiocese of Denver, I am also very sad to be leaving the Diocese of Colorado Springs," he said in a statement and asked the faithful of the diocese to pray for him as well as whoever will succeed him.
Archbishop Aquila introduced his successor at a mid-morning press conference in Denver, calling the archdiocese "blessed" to receive from Pope Leo the appointment of the Colorado Springs prelate as its new shepherd.
"I have gotten to know Bishop Golka as a man of prayer with a deep love for Jesus and the Blessed Mother," Archbishop Aquila said, highlighting his ministry to the Hispanic community in Colorado Springs and previously in Grand Island -- and noting his successor's Spanish is much better than his own.
"He understands well many of the challenges that we face today in our country and world with immigration, the precarious global situation and all of the challenges undermining the dignity of human life," the retiring archbishop said. "He approaches all of these through the lens of the Gospel and a biblical worldview keen on the mission of the church to make disciples as the Lord commanded us in Matthew 28."
"As I prepare to depart, my heart is filled with wonder and gratitude to the Father for the gift of the church in Denver. Her wonderful clergy, religious, seminarians and laity are faith filled, and for the many blessings I have received in serving as shepherd for the past 13 and a half years,” he continued.
Stepping to the podium, Archbishop Golka began with a prayer, saying, "If we don't pray first we're going to be lost." He then thanked Archbishop Aquila for his leadership and "especially his desire to bring prayer before everything we do."
Commenting on his appointment, which he said he had just learned about five days earlier, Archbishop Golka said he is "equally excited and equally sad."
"(I'm) excited because I trust God more than I trust myself, and if God wants me to be here, I'm going to say yes," he explained. "I'm very sad to leave my good people in Colorado Springs. ... In over four and a half years of being there, I fell in love with the people, the parishes, the priests, the diocese. They're a big part of my heart."
Some of the archbishop's family members were with him at the press conference, including his 92-year-old father, Robert, whom he asked to stand. He is the fourth of 10 children born to Robert Golka and his late wife, Patricia, who died in January.
Archbishop Golka said he is fascinated by Jesus and recalled that as a child, preparing for his first Communion, he couldn't read enough about Jesus in his children's Bible -- "what made Jesus do what he did, say what he said, respond to people the way he responded to them. And Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, Amen, so he continues to respond to you and me the exact same way."
"Jesus emptied himself" to be receptive to the power of the Holy Spirit and the will of the Father, he explained. "Kenosis -- the theological term -- has shaped my life in many ways."
He said he's often asked what his agenda is as a bishop. His "agenda," he said, is to take time to intentionally listen to God’s will, to be "docile to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and God's will. I want to let God lead and direct and guide us. I trust God much more than I trust me, and so I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us together."
A reporter asked how the Catholic Church can reach the 40% of adults in Colorado who, according to a Pew study, identify as religiously unaffiliated, often referred to as "nones."
"The best thing we can do is to be a happy involved Catholic and others are going to see that light and want it. But if we're complaining, divisive, judgmental -- nobody's going to want that,” he said.
Despite what such surveys show, "there's something happening in our country," he said, pointing to growing numbers of people enrolled in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults and preparing to enter the church.
Asked to comment on the current immigration controversy in the U.S., Archbishop Gorka said, "Our faith teaches us every country has the right to guard their border, ... people have a right to seek a safer, better (life) if they're not receiving it in their homeland, and as Catholics, (we're taught) what is charity -- if someone's at my door, I need to help them, so I would just say those are the three starting points for us, and then we pray fervently for the spirit to guide us."
Born Sept. 22, 1966, James Robert Golka graduated from Grand Island Central Catholic High School and went to Jesuit-run Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, from 1985-89, where he earned degrees in philosophy and theology.
He spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps working on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota from 1989-1990 before entering St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he received both a master's of divinity and master's of arts in sacramental theology. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Grand Island on June 3, 1994.
In the Nebraska diocese, he served as a parochial vicar and pastor in various parishes. His diocesan positions included director of ongoing formation of clergy; director of diocesan youth retreats; chair of the personnel board; and member of the finance council.
Pope Francis appointed then-Father Golka to head the Diocese of Colorado Springs on April 30, 2021.
During his tenure as shepherd of the 10-county diocese in central-eastern Colorado, Bishop Golka recorded a popular series of weekly videos containing reflections on the Sunday readings. In 2025, he established the first diocesan shrine, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Divine Redeemer. He currently serves as episcopal moderator of the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference and is on the board of directors of Cross Catholic Outreach.
Bishop Golka has worked with national consultants to better help parishes develop stewardship as a way of life. He also has offered numerous retreats across the country.
Archbishop Aquila was ordained as a priest of the Archdiocese of Denver on June 5, 1976. He had served in the archdiocese for 25 years -- including as rector of the St. John Vianney Theological Seminary -- when then-Msgr. Aquila was named coadjutor bishop of Fargo, North Dakota, in June 2001. Nine months later, in March 2002, he became bishop of Fargo.
On May 29, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named then-Bishop Aquila as archbishop of Denver, succeeding Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. He was installed on July 18, 2012, at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.
In September 2025, the Archdiocese of Denver issued a pastoral note, penned by Chief Mission Officer Scott Elmer declaring the archdiocese to be "a mission diocese again" and outlining how it has been "retooled for evangelization" under Archbishop Aquila's leadership.
At the start of Lent 2025, the Archdiocese of Denver launched the public portion of its nine-year novena that will usher in the extraordinary Jubilee Year 2033. The year will mark exactly 2,000 years from when Christians believe the redemption of the world took place with the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Denver Archdiocese, which is also served by Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodríguez, covers 25 counties of Northern Colorado and has a Catholic population of about 600,000, which is about 15% of the total population. The archdiocese has 148 parishes and mission parishes, 313 priests, 195 deacons, 35 elementary schools and nine high schools.
