Ohio bishop resumes treatment for leukemia, sends resignation to pope

Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, is seen in this 2018 file photo. Msgr. John A. Zuraw, chancellor of the Diocese of Youngstown, announced May 26, 2020, that Bishop Murry submitted to Pope Francis his resignation for reasons of ill health. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)

Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, is seen in this 2018 file photo. Msgr. John A. Zuraw, chancellor of the Diocese of Youngstown, announced May 26, 2020, that Bishop Murry submitted to Pope Francis his resignation for reasons of ill health. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)

The Diocese of Youngstown announced May 26 that Bishop George V. Murry has submitted his resignation to Pope Francis for reasons of ill health.

Diagnosed with a form of acute leukemia, in April 2018, Murry underwent intensive chemotherapy at the Cleveland Clinic. In July 2019, he reentered the Cleveland Clinic for a reoccurrence of leukemia. 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," the diocesan statement said. "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."

Murray, 71, has headed the Diocese of Youngstown since 2007. Born in Camden, New Jersey, Dec. 28, 1948, he was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He became a Catholic as a child while attending a parochial school in Baltimore.

He was ordained in 1979 as a priest for the Society of Jesus and has served as auxiliary bishop of Chicago, and bishop of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

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