YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Youngstown bishop George V. Murry has submitted his resignation to Pope Francis.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown said the bishop is stepping down for health reasons. Murry has had a form of acute leukemia since April 2018, according to the diocese, and has undergone intensive chemotherapy at the Cleveland Clinic. In July 2019 he reentered the Clinic for a recurrence of leukemia.
A statement from the diocese said, “At that time tests confirmed that he was in remission and that doctors were not recommending a bone marrow transplant. This past April, his leukemia returned and he resumed treatment. With this third bout of leukemia, his present state of health leaves him less able to fulfill the tasks entrusted to him as bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown.”
The Youngstown diocese serves the counties of Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Stark, Portage and Ashtabula. Murry's departure leaves most of Northeast Ohio without a bishop, as no bishop has yet been installed to succeed Bishop Nelson Perez, who was who was reassigned from the Diocese of Cleveland to become Archbishop of Philadelphia earlier this year.
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