The Vatican has announced that Richard Moth will be the new Archbishop of Westminster, making him the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

He succeeds Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who has held the role since 2009 and has stepped down aged 80.

For the past 10 years, Richard Moth has been Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, and before that served as Bishop of the Forces.

As Archbishop of Westminster he will become president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and lead an estimated six million Catholics.

Cardinal Nichols reached retirement age when he was 75, but was asked to stay on by Pope Francis. In May 2025, he took part in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.

The search for a replacement for Cardinal Nichols was led by the Apostolic Nuncio, or papal ambassador to the UK, who presented a list of potential candidates to Pope Leo.

Earlier this week, Archbishop Moth released a joint statement calling for empathy for “those who come to this country for their safety, reminding Catholics that Jesus’s family fled to Egypt as refugees.

He has been one of the bishops leading the Church’s response to social justice issues in the UK, including praising the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap and leadership challenges.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday, December 19, 2025, outgoing Cardinal Nichols said his successor would bring “experience and practical wisdom to the life of the diocese.

Archbishop Moth said: “My first task here is to get to know everybody… to get to know priests and people, to get to know schools, to get to know the life of this wonderful diocese here in Westminster.

He said his focus had “consistently been in the area of social justice, adding he had a “particular concern for prisons.

Archbishop Moth will face the challenge of declining numbers of people attending churches nationally, though there is growth in some churches with immigrant Catholics.

In response to the growing use of Christian symbols at, for example, rallies organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, Bishop Moth has talked of his concern.

Last weekend, Robinson held an event in London saying he wanted to “reclaim” the country’s heritage and Christian identity.

“We are concerned about the tensions that are growing in society and the desire by some groups to sow seeds of division within our communities. This does not reflect the spirit or message of Christmas,” Bishop Moth said in a statement with the Archbishop of Birmingham.

The Catholic Church has been heavily involved in assisting those who have suffered in the cost-of-living crisis.