(The following is the text of the remarks by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, at the Solemn Mass of Installation for Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new archbishop of Washington on March 11, 2025 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He read Pope Francis’s official letter of appointment for Cardinal McElroy to lead The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and presented the apostolic mandate to Washington’s new archbishop.)
My dear brother cardinals, archbishops and bishops; priests, deacons, and consecrated women and men; all the faithful of this Archdiocese as well as distinguished guests and visitors; dear friends: Greetings!
Cardinal Gregory: Thank you. Thank you for your ministry here, and for your many years of service to God’s Church as both bishop and priest. May God bless you by being very close to you, and may He renew the manifestations of His love for you during this new phase of your life.
To everyone: Please know that the Holy Father is spiritually united with all of us in mind and heart, and that he offers you his paternal affection. The pope is also grateful for the prayers and sacrifices that you have been offering for him. As he said some days ago, “I feel as if I am ‘carried’ and supported by all God’s people.”
Think of that: There is great strength in God’s people – enough strength to carry the Vicar of Christ through his time of suffering. When the Church comes together in love and goodwill, we give hope and consolation to one another, including those whom the Holy Spirit has anointed to lead and shepherd us in the name of Jesus Christ. Such support is visible today in this shrine: in the great number of cardinals, archbishops and bishops, priests and deacons, consecrated people, lay men and women, and members of the community who have come to celebrate the installation of Cardinal McElroy as the eighth archbishop of Washington. May our solidarity as the one Body of Christ continue. May we put our trust in the plans that God has for us. May we be a people of hope, as the readings for this Mass suggest, and as the pope has called us to be during this Jubilee Year.
Cardinal McElroy: Welcome to this city and to this Archdiocese! You now become a member of this local Church, which means that you are joining the pilgrimage of this people. As you have already begun to do, you will continue to familiarize yourself with the people who make up this Church: the clergy, the consecrated, and all the baptized. You will enjoy many opportunities to affirm the works of grace and the expressions of discipleship that are alive within this Christian community. Through a genuine encounter with the people of God, and with their priests, you will share with them the life of the risen Christ, and journey with them to the house of the Father.
May God bless you, Your Eminence, and may God bless the people of the Archdiocese of Washington. Brothers and sisters, if we continue to place our hope in Christ and in his Spirit, our hope will not disappoint.
I will now read an English translation of the official letter of appointment from the Holy Father.
FRANCIS
BISHOP
SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD
To Our Venerable Brother Robert Walter McElroy, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, until now Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego, appointed Ordinary of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Washington, greetings and Apostolic Blessing.
To the Lord, Who with His assured and ineffable kindness receives and listens with attention to the prayers of His Mystical Bride, We commend to Him also Our concerns for the entire Church, so that, illuminated by the light of holy grace, We may safely lead her to the doors of heaven. Motivated by this truth, We devote in a special way Our heartfelt attention to the Metropolitan Church in Washington, which ardently awaits a new Chief Shepherd and leader in the faith, owing to the resignation of Our Venerable Brother, Wilton Daniel Gregory, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. To be sure, as We consider these circumstances, We turn Our thoughts to you, Our Venerable Brother, who, in your guidance of San Diego, distinguished yourself with prudence and both human and priestly qualities. Consequently, it is Our wish to entrust to you this ministry, which is by no means of small importance.
Therefore, upon consultation with the Dicastery for Bishops, by virtue of Our Apostolic authority, We release you from the bond of the aforementioned Church, and We declare as well as appoint you Metropolitan Archbishop of Washington, granting to you all the due rights as well as imposing the relative obligations, in accordance with the norms and prescripts of the Code of Canon Law. By means of this Letter, We ask that you inform the clergy and the faithful of your Archdiocese about your appointment, so that, dutifully and devotedly, they may be able to show you signs of filial love and compliance in faith.
Finally, Venerable Brother, praying for you and your determination that Almighty God may abundantly bless your new community, We also earnestly urge, under the prayerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that of her Spouse Saint Joseph, that you commit yourself diligently to the work of preaching the Good News and of strengthening Christ’s faithful in the faith, so that, as carefully as possible, you may devote yourself to the growth of the People of God both in the theological virtues as well as in a humanity worthy of the Lord’s disciples.
Given at Rome, at Saint John Lateran, on the sixth day of the month of January, The Epiphany of the Lord, in the year two thousand twenty-five, the twelfth of Our Pontificate.
POPE FRANCIS
