Cardinal Sean O’Malley offered his resignation to Pope Francis over the weekend, but the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston won’t be leaving his adopted hometown anytime soon, a spokesman for the archdiocese said Wednesday.
Church law requires bishops to submit resignations when they turn 75, and Saturday was O’Malley’s birthday. But it is commonplace for bishops to continue working several more years before retiring.
“The pope looked at him and said, ‘I think we’ll keep you there for a few more years,’ ” Terry Donilon, the spokesman, said in a phone interview. “The cardinal is really quite touched by the pope’s confidence in him, and his support.”