WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of 71-year-old Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet, Illinois, just over four months after the bishop took a medical leave of absence.

Announcing the bishop’s resignation in Washington May 4, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican nuncio to the United States, also said Pope Francis had confirmed retired Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, as apostolic administrator of the diocese.

When the Diocese of Joliet announced Conlon’s leave of absence Dec. 27, it did not specify the nature of his health problem.

The normal retirement age for a bishop is 75.

Born in Cincinnati Dec. 4, 1948, he studied at the Athenaeum of Ohio and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977. Ten years later, he earned a doctorate in canon law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario.

St. John Paul II named him the bishop of Steubenville, Ohio, in 2002, and nine years later Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to lead the Diocese of Joliet.

From 2011 to 2014, Conlon served as chairperson of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.