Before Cardinal Wilton Gregory made history in November 2020 when he became the first African American cardinal in the Catholic Church after being elevated by Pope Francis, he had already made a mark in the year and one-half since he had become the first African American archbishop of Washington and helped bring healing to The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington that had been shaken by the sexual abuse crisis.
“Cardinal Gregory was the pastor we needed at a very tough time for our family of faith. He has brought a healing presence, a pastor’s heart, a courageous voice, and a faithful example of priestly service,” said John Carr, the founder of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
At his introductory press conference in April 2019 on the morning when Pope Francis had named him as the new archbishop of Washington, then-Archbishop Gregory pledged to work to rebuild trust and foster healing in the archdiocese.
“I am arriving with a commitment to transparency,” Archbishop Gregory said. “The only way I can serve this archdiocese is by telling the truth. I will always tell the truth.”
In July 2018, former Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick had resigned from the College of Cardinals and had been ordered to live a life of prayer and penance after allegations accusing him of abusing minors and engaging in sexual misconduct with adults. In February 2019 after a Vatican investigation, the pope confirmed McCarrick’s removal from the priesthood.
In October 2018, Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s resignation as the archbishop of Washington was accepted by Pope Francis, after Cardinal Wuerl had faced strong criticism in a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report for how he had dealt with some abuse cases when he earlier served as the bishop of Pittsburgh.
Before being appointed to Washington, then-Archbishop Gregory led the Archdiocese of Atlanta from 2005 until the spring of 2019. When he became the bishop of Belleville, Illinois, in 1994, then-Bishop Gregory made sure that all priests with credible allegations against them were removed from ministry, and he met with dozens of abuse survivors to hear their stories and try to bring healing to them.
In 2001, Bishop Gregory was elected as the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and when the abuse crisis erupted in the Catholic Church following the Boston Globe’s investigations of abusive priests and negligent Church leadership in the Archdiocese of Boston, Bishop Gregory led the conference in a nationwide effort to address the crisis, as the bishops implemented the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” in 2002, which includes a “zero tolerance policy” on priests who abuse children.
“Cardinal Gregory was an extraordinarily good choice to come here and bring about the unification of the archdiocese by an archbishop who was well respected nationally,” said Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr. in an interview. He noted that Pope Francis when choosing bishops to lead key dioceses is known for “looking for bishops who have a pastor’s heart.”
At his installation Mass as Washington’s new archbishop in May 2019, then-Archbishop Gregory pointed to the Gospel story of Jesus calming the stormy seas when he was in the boat with his apostles.
“I remind you… He is here. He is here when the seas are calm, and He is here during every moment of uncertainty, anger, fear and shame. He invites us to place our trust in Him,” then-Archbishop Gregory said.
In confronting the abuse crisis in the Archdiocese of Washington, then-Archbishop Gregory heard the concerns of priests and laypeople during meetings and parish visits. He also presided at annual Masses in April to mark National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and prayed for healing for abuse survivors, their families and the Catholic faithful.
Two months after he was installed as Washington’s archbishop, the archdiocese in July 2019 revised its child protection policy with an expanded scope to emphasize the importance of ensuring safe environments for people of all ages, protecting children from sexual abuse and adults from sexual harassment or abuses of power.
Reflecting on Cardinal Gregory’s impact on the Archdiocese of Washington in that challenging time, Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the rector of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, said, “The big thing with Cardinal Gregory, (he was) a calming influence. The diocese had gone through a lot. Everyone was anxious, everyone was nervous, everyone was upset. From the moment I met him, that calming influence led to a real sense of hope, that the Lord is going to take care of us.”
“For me, that’s what he conveyed so well… There’s hope in the Lord, and the Lord will take care of us. He was the answer to the circumstances of the time,” said Msgr. Jameson.
The cathedral rector added, “Certainly with the pandemic, that calming influence was how he responded.”
In March 2020, then-Archbishop Gregory announced that Catholic school campuses would close and public Masses would not be celebrated in Catholic churches in the archdiocese for the time being in accordance with government recommended restrictions to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. In a statement, he said, “My number one priority as your archbishop is to ensure the safety and health of all who attend our Masses, the children in our schools, and those we welcome through our outreach and services.”
In a column for the Catholic Standard newspaper, then-Archbishop Gregory wrote that “even in the uncertainty of this current situation, if we are open, God will use this moment to bring our hearts closer to Him and more firmly in union with one another.”
Bishop Campbell said Cardinal Gregory knew that stopping in-person Masses to prevent the spread of COVID-19 would present spiritual and financial challenges for the archdiocese and its parishes. “He did what was the right thing to do for the people of God,” he said.
Following the nationwide racial protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died on May 25, 2020 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes during an arrest, then-Archbishop Gregory said in a statement that “this incident reveals the virus of racism among us once again even as we continue to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.”
At the time, then-Archbishop Gregory praised peaceful protests for racial justice, saying that the young people helping lead those marches offered hope for building a more just nation where all lives are respected. He also supported a prayerful march to Lafayette Square led by Bishop Campbell and other Black Catholic clergy and religious.
By mid-2020, public Masses resumed in regions of the archdiocese, with recommended COVID-19 safety measures.
In August 2020, then-Archbishop Gregory celebrated a Mass of Peace and Justice marking the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. During the Mass, he announced an archdiocesan initiative to oppose racial injustice, titled “Made in God’s Image: Pray and Work to End the Sin of Racism.” The initiative included pastoral activities and outreach, faith formation opportunities, social justice work, reflection resources and prayers.
As the 2020-21 school year began, Catholic schools were following a distance learning model, a blended learning model or a modified classroom option. Safety measures for Catholic schools offering in-person learning included mandatory mask wearing, social distances in the spacing of desks, and temperature checks upon students’ arrival.
On Oct. 25, 2020, Pope Francis named Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory as one of 13 new cardinals from around the world to be elevated at a Nov. 28 consistory.
That morning, Cardinal-designate Gregory celebrated a 250th anniversary Mass for Holy Angels Parish in Avenue, which is located near St. Clement’s Island in Southern Maryland, where the first Catholic Mass in the English-speaking colonies was celebrated in 1634.
After that Mass, when asked what his elevation to the College of Cardinals meant to him personally, to be the first African American cardinal in the United States, and what that would mean to the nation’s Black Catholics, Cardinal-designate Gregory’s voice broke slightly as he said, “I’m deeply humbled. I know that I am reaping a harvest that millions of African American Catholics and people of color have planted. I am deeply grateful for the faith that they have lived so generously, so zealously and with such great devotion.”
Bishop Campbell – who also serves as the president of the National Black Catholic Congress – said Cardinal Gregory by his life and ministry has “demonstrated to the Church in the United States that Black Catholics have a lot to offer to the Church from the gifts God has given us, and he’s an excellent example of that.”
He also said that as Washington’s first African American archbishop, Cardinal Gregory was able to relate to the challenges that minority communities in the archdiocese faced, and he brought them hope.
Eventually as the pandemic subsided, all local Catholic schools resumed offering full in-person learning.
As Washington, D.C., and Maryland began offering COVID-19 vaccines in January 2021, Catholic bishops in that region encouraged people to get vaccinated. The next month, Cardinal Gregory rolled up his sleeve to receive his COVID-19 vaccine at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, and that photo ran on the front page of the Catholic Standard newspaper.
Before his installation as archbishop of Washington and his elevation to the College of Cardinals the next year, Cardinal Gregory served as the archbishop of Atlanta, where he led that archdiocese in implementing an action plan based on Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home.
Then as Washington’s archbishop, Cardinal Gregory in 2021 led the launching of an action plan titled, “Laudato Si’: Embarking on a Seven-Year Journey Promoting an Integral Ecology in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.” That action plan, also based on Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ environmental encyclical, emphasizes practical ways that parishes, Catholic schools and institutions, individuals and families can care for creation, drawing on science and inspired by the social teachings of the Catholic Church.
“I loved Cardinal Gregory’s pastoral approach to all the issues that the Church faces in today’s world. He is a true pastor who really wants to be a shepherd to all the needs and concerns of his people,” said Msgr. John Enzler, the former president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington.
In an interview, Msgr. Enzler noted how in October 2019, then-Archbishop Gregory blessed a solar array being installed on five acres of the agency’s land surrounding the Missionaries of Charity’s Gift of Peace home. The array of more than 5,000 panels, which was operational by early 2020, was described by organizers as the largest such solar project built by that point in Washington, D.C.
Msgr. Enzler added, “He’s been a mentor to me since the day he arrived in Washington… The day after his appointment, his first visit to a parish or agency was to our (Catholic Charity) offices on G Street. It immediately said to our staff and myself that the needs of the poor, hungry and the downtrodden would be a high priority in his time as archbishop.”
That point was echoed by Jim Malloy, the current president and CEO of Catholic Charities, who said the cardinal “has been the good shepherd for us, both in embodying our mission and supporting our operations… He has called us the kind face and the caring hands of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Washington, and we’re proud to represent him in that way.”
According to the agency’s 2023-2024 annual report, Catholic Charities last year served almost 159,000 people in Washington, D.C., and the five surrounding Maryland counties that are part of the Archdiocese of Washington. Catholic Charities, the largest nongovernmental social service agency in the Washington metropolitan area, operates 47 programs in 29 locations. Its outreach includes care for families and children, developmental disabilities services, food services, health care and mental health services, housing and shelter, immigrant and refugee services and job training and employment services.
When he was introduced as the new archbishop of Washington in 2019, then-Archbishop Gregory said, “I seek to be a pastor for the entire family,” and he kept that promise, making the celebration of Masses at local parishes and visits to Catholic schools central to his ministry.
While visiting Catholic schools, Cardinal Gregory often told students how he was inspired to become Catholic and to eventually become a priest after attending St. Carthage School in Chicago as a sixth grader in 1958.
Kelly Branaman, the Secretary for Catholic Schools and Superintendent of Schools for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, expressed gratitude to the cardinal “for his unwavering love and support of our Catholic schools.”
She noted how he “finds true joy celebrating student Masses and has genuine delight in visiting our classrooms,” and likes to share stories about his own Catholic school experience. “These personal stories have deeply inspired both our students and educators,” she said, adding, “Cardinal Gregory’s presence among our young people exemplifies his commitment to nurturing their faith and education.”
Another key part of Cardinal Gregory’s ministry as archbishop of Washington was supporting vocations to the priesthood, permanent diaconate and consecrated life. In June 2024, he ordained 16 new priests for the Archdiocese of Washington, the archdiocese’s largest ordination class since 1960.
In Washington, the cardinal also stressed the dignity of human life in all its stages, celebrating an annual Youth Mass for Life before the March for Life, and opposing the death penalty.
When the Supreme Court in 2022 in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling overturned the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion on demand in the United States, Cardinal Gregory said, “We rejoice in this latest step in our journey, but our work is not done. Locally and nationally, we still have more to do to advance the dignity of human life and to make sure that the full range of life issues are adequately addressed.”
Cardinal Gregory also continued the work of his predecessor, Cardinal Wuerl, in blessing the sites of what are believed to be unmarked graves of formerly enslaved people buried in local Catholic cemeteries, saying it was a matter of showing them the dignity they deserved that they were denied in life.
The cardinal also joined Ukrainian Catholic leaders and other bishops in prayer services for peace in Ukraine after the 2022 Russian invasion of that country.
While stressing the importance of dialogue with public officials, Cardinal Gregory sometimes offered public criticism of them. In a 2021 talk to the National Press Club, he said then-President Joe Biden was “not demonstrating Catholic teaching” when the president – a Catholic and proponent of abortion rights – had said he disagreed with those who believe human life begins at conception.
Then-Archbishop Gregory criticized an appearance by then-President Donald Trump at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington in June 2020, a day after authorities dispersed a crowd in Lafayette Square protesting the death of George Floyd and other deaths of African American people at the hands of police, so President Trump could walk to St. John Episcopal Church, where he held up a Bible. The church had been set afire during earlier protests.
In a statement, then-Archbishop Gregory said, “St. John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.”
In January 2024, Cardinal Gregory joined Maryland Catholic bishops in issuing a statement affirming solidarity with immigrants, after President Trump’s new administration had launched a mass deportation effort against undocumented immigrants.
“Cardinal Gregory has been an essential voice for racial justice; for the lives and dignity of unborn children, migrants and refugees; and for democracy and against destructive polarization in public and Catholic life. He has been faithful, not ideological; principled, not political; civil, but not silent; and engaged, but not used in public life,” John Carr said.
In recent years, Cardinal Gregory participated in two Synods of Bishops in Rome that were preceded by parish and regional listening sessions in the Archdiocese of Washington and in dioceses around the world. Cardinal Gregory said that process of synodality – of listening to people’s concerns and their hopes – is aimed at building a better Church and helping Catholics share Christ’s love and mercy with others.
“Cardinal Gregory’s work fostering authentic dialogue across division stands out as key to his legacy. He has shown us how to be bridge-builders in polarized times, focusing on issues rather than attacks, and has embodied what Pope Francis calls a ‘listening Church,’” said Kim Daniels, the director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
On Jan. 6, 2025, Pope Francis announced that he had accepted the resignation of Cardinal Gregory as the archbishop of Washington, which he had been required by Church law to submit when he turned 75 on Dec. 7, 2022. Also on Jan. 6, 2025, Pope Francis announced that he has named Cardinal Robert McElroy, the bishop of San Diego, as the new archbishop of Washington. Cardinal McElroy will be installed as Washington’s archbishop on March 11 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Reflecting on Cardinal Gregory’s legacy as the archbishop of Washington, Msgr. Jameson said, “From a leadership standpoint, what Cardinal Gregory did, he has set the tone of where we are, (offering) a calming influence, leading us to (the realization that) Jesus is our hope. Now it’s a new time. His part, he accomplished and did a great job doing it.”
