Archbishop Wilton Gregory Named America's First Black Cardinal

WASHINGTON, DC — Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. is set to become the first Black United States prelate to assume the rank of cardinal in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis announced the ascension of Gregory and 12 others to the cardinal rank on Sunday.

“With a very grateful and humble heart, I thank Pope Francis for this appointment which will allow me to work more closely with him in caring for Christ’s Church,” Gregory said in a statement issued by the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

The 72-year-old Gregory, ordained in his native Chicago in 1973, took over leadership of the capital’s archdiocese last year after serving as archbishop of Atlanta since 2005.

He was a parish priest in Chicago until he was ordained as an auxiliary bishop there in 1983. He was the bishop in Belleville, Illinois prior to his stint in Atlanta.

The ceremony making his elevation to cardinal official is slated for Nov. 28 at the Vatican.

Gregory has helped shape the church’s “zero tolerance” response to the sexual abuse scandal while serving as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004. During that period, the bishops adopted a charter designed to govern its treatment of sexual abuse allegations made by minor children against priests. The church’s efforts since 2004 have helped achieve a sharp reduction in child-sex abuse cases. But some abuse continues to occur, and the church’s procedures for addressing abuse continue to incur criticism from those who feel there’s a lack of consistency and transparency.

More recently, amid nationwide protests this summer sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Gregory made headlines for issuing a statement critical of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine. That presidential visit to the shrine came one day after demonstrators were forcefully cleared to facilitate Trump’s visit to an Episcopal church in Washington, and Gregory responded that he considered “it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated.”

During a June dialogue hosted by Georgetown University, Gregory talked frankly about his own response to Floyd’s killing and emphasized the value of church involvement in pressing social issues.

“The church lives in society. The church does not live behind the four doors of the structures where we worship,” Gregory said then.

The Washington D.C. archdiocese has created an anti-racism initiative under Gregory’s leadership, offering focused prayer and listening sessions.

In addition to his work combating racial injustice and sexual abuse in the church, Gregory has drawn notice for his more inclusive treatment of LGBTQ Catholics. In 2014, while serving in Atlanta, he wrote a positive column about his conversations with a group of Catholic parents of LGBTQ children.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which represents LGBTQ Catholics, said his group is “very excited” to see Gregory’s elevation and connected it back to Francis’ recently reported comments supporting civil unions for same-sex couples.

Gregory’s elevation, while pathbreaking for Black Americans in the church, also follows a pattern of D.C.-area archbishops getting named to the rank of cardinal. Five of the six prelates who previously held Gregory’s position were later named cardinals.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.