Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila, who has presided over the city’s Catholic archdiocese for 13 years, will submit his canonically mandated request to retire to Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, his 75th birthday.

It is a requirement of the church that Catholic bishops and archbishops submit their resignation to the pope when they turn 75. But those resignations may be accepted quickly or take some time.

Aquila recently spoke to the Denver Catholic , the archdiocese’s official publication, about his retirement and his time serving as Denver’s archbishop. He recently marked 49 years of priesthood, with 38 of those years spent in Denver.

Aquila served as a parochial vicar in two parishes from 1976 to 1982 and then as pastor at Denver’s Guardian Angels Parish from 1982 to 1987. He was the first

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