When the helicopter delivering Pope John Paul II to a Catholic youth festival descended into Denver’s Mile High Stadium 32 years ago, the crowd’s roar, the pilot later told papal biographer George Weigel, created turbulence he hadn’t experienced since being under fire in the Vietnam War.
Denver was a curious choice to host World Youth Day. A handful of U.S. cities have deeper ties to the Catholic Church, while Denver was seen as not historically Catholic and not particularly religious. Its then-archbishop, later Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, was committed nonetheless to bringing a wave of evangelization to the city.
Under Stafford and his successors, Archbishops Charles Chaput and Samuel Aquila, Denver became a hub for influential conservative Catholic evangelizing ministries such as the Fellowship of Catholic University Students and the Augustine Institute. When the Pillar, an outlet focused on Catholicism’s internal politics, launched in 2021 with a controversial investigation into Catholic priests’ use of a gay dating app, it did so with financial backing from Denver Catholic donors.
The three archbishops who fostered this environment are viewed, depending on perspective, as defenders of church orthodoxy or combative culture warriors.
But as Pope Leo XIV seeks unity and a lower temperature, many U.S. dioceses are still led by bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler.” Leo’s February appointment of Bishop James Golka to Denver, installed March 25, may signal how the pope plans to navigate polarization.
Golka, who led the Diocese of Colorado Springs for five years, has already drawn support from across the Archdiocese of Denver, which covers 25 counties in northern Colorado and serves about 600,000 Catholics.
“The one word I would use to describe him is joy,” said Chas Canfield, operations manager of a women’s emergency shelter in Denver who shares Golka’s hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska. “You never see him not living with the joy of Christ.”
Aquila, who led the archdiocese since 2012, has been widely praised by Catholic leaders. Darren Walsh, head of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver, said Aquila supported the opening of hundreds of temporary shelter units for migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He empowered Catholic Charities to manage the needs of the people we were serving as we saw fit,” Walsh said. “That was very helpful because it allowed us to be very nimble.”
Emma Ramirez, director of Respect Life Denver, said Aquila frequently participated in the group’s anti-abortion initiatives, including a Eucharistic procession around a Planned Parenthood clinic and later celebrating Mass at an anti-abortion symposium for high school students.
“We received a really awesome, supportive letter from him to encourage priests and the lay faithful to participate in our mission,” Ramirez said. “That was huge.”
Weigel said in an email that Chaput and Aquila “built a model archdiocese, not only in its evangelical energy but in its governance.”
Yet Aquila also frustrated progressive Catholics with policies toward LGBTQ+ Catholics, including a 2022 directive barring Catholic schools from enrolling transgender or queer students, and his assignment of conservative pastors to historically progressive parishes.
At Most Precious Blood parish near the University of Denver, a priest appointed by Aquila removed “feminist” art and eliminated certain songs from Mass. Parishioners later submitted a protest petition with nearly 900 signatures.
Tensions also surfaced at St. Ignatius Loyola, a historically Black Catholic parish led by Jesuits for nearly a century. After the Jesuits departed in 2023, Aquila replaced them with the Community of St. John. The new pastor, the Rev. Francis Therese Krautter, had reportedly denied Communion at a previous parish to two women wearing rainbow face masks.
Rosa Salazar, a former gospel choir leader at Loyola, said the parish’s Gospel music was replaced with Gregorian chant and Western classical music. Parishioners later found Black Catholic hymnals discarded.
“There’s just two historically Black Catholic parishes in Denver, and it just seems pretty sad to me that we can’t have Gospel music at Loyola anymore,” Salazar said.
Neither Krautter nor the archdiocese responded to requests for comment.
Discontent with Aquila extended beyond progressive circles. In 2024, the archdiocese closed Bishop Machebeuf High School, a majority-minority school in east Denver focused on classical education. Students were encouraged to transfer to St. John Paul the Great High School, which operates independently of the archdiocese.
Harold Siegel, former principal of Machebeuf, said the school had recently passed its mission assessment and had been approached to serve as a national model. The archdiocese declined to allow fundraising before closing the school, he said.
Former administrators also alleged conflicts of interest involving members of the archdiocesan finance council who sat on St. John Paul the Great’s board. They said staff were instructed to steer students exclusively to that school.
Siegel called the closure “devastating to the apostolic mission” of the archdiocese.
“The diocese was abandoning classical education,” said Robert Farris, former dean of students at Machebeuf.
Neither Aquila nor Golka responded to requests for comment.
Farris said Golka gives him hope.
“He did present himself as very pastoral and talked to all the kids who were getting confirmed in a way that I’d never seen from Aquila,” Farris said.
Golka has also drawn attention for his response to the 2022 mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs that killed five people. He called the violence “especially troubling” and emphasized the dignity of every human life.
Those who worked with Golka describe a collaborative leader. Andy Barton, CEO of Catholic Charities of Central Colorado, said Golka supported the creation of transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness.
“He was a strong partner in that,” Barton said.
At a recent press conference, Golka spoke about celebrating Mass in Spanish and supporting immigrants.
“If someone shows up at my door in need, as a Catholic I care for them as best as I can,” he said.
Canfield said he expects a smooth transition.
“He very much falls in love with the people that he’s around,” he said.
This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press.
