In his first appearance at the National Press Club as the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wilton Gregory on Sept. 8 emphasized the importance of protecting the environment and upholding the dignity of human life at all stages. He also answered questions on issues ranging from whether women will ever be ordained Catholic priests – “I don’t see it changing” – to affirming that seeking healing for victims of clergy sexual abuse should be the first priority in the Church’s response to that issue.

Cardinal Gregory took questions from the moderator and the press club’s president, Lisa Nicole Matthews of the Associated Press, for more than half an hour, following prepared remarks that thanked the news media for their work keeping the world “informed, updated and connected as a global community.” He noted that: “words have the incredible power and ability to build, to damage or destroy,” and he challenged the news industry and all people “to use our daily words, social media posts, public commentary and personal involvement to care for our neighbors in tangible ways that work for justice at every level.”

The cardinal said that “civility and respectful dialogue for the purpose of earnest understanding can and should be promoted, most especially when we hold different or even opposing political, religious or other opinions.” He added that “we must intentionally speak and act in ways that promote respect, peace and justice for all people – not an atmosphere where hatred and violence can grow.”

In his remarks, he also pointed to Pope Francis as an inspiration for the world to care for one another in tangible ways, such as by welcoming immigrants and protecting the Earth. He told the in-person and on-line audience of press club members and guests for the group’s Headliners Luncheon that “in addition to the essential reporting you do on disasters, the pandemic and political upheaval, I hope you and your editors also think it is important to spread the word about efforts like our Laudato Si’ Action Plan, which aspire to improve our world.” The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in August released the action plan, which lays out simple and more involved ways that individuals, churches and institutions can act to protect the environment, inspired by Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical.

In the question-and-answer session, Cardinal Gregory pulled out and waved his vaccination card when asked about those who cite faith-based concerns for hesitating or refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination. He noted that both Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI have received the vaccine, and Pope Francis regularly encourages people to get it. Such support from the highest levels of the Church doesn’t diminish the concerns of those who hesitate, he said, “but it certainly puts their concern on a pretty shaky platform.”

 Matthews asked the cardinal to discuss the Church’s procedures to prevent sexual abuse by priests and to address it when it surfaces. Cardinal Gregory said he is embarrassed when cases like that of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick are revealed, “because it is absolutely contrary to everything that I as a priest, my brother priests and bishops, should be pursuing in terms of serving our people.” As McCarrick pleaded not guilty last week to charges that he sexually molested a young man decades ago, Cardinal Gregory said, “my first thought was what about the people that he had hurt…. We’re going to make sure that proper attention is put in the proper place. The people who should get our sorrow and our concern and our compassion are those who are hurt. Those that hurt them, the perpetrators, should be held to the same criminal justice that anyone who creates such a scandal should be held.”

Cardinal Gregory was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 when news exploded about sexual abuse cases involving priests. That summer, the nation's bishops adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People to formalize the process for avoiding future problems and handling those that arise.

“One of the things that I’ve come to understand is that from the beginning of this crisis, we began to focus on the wrong entry point,” he said at the press club. “We began to focus on how should the Church be protected, or how should the clergy be addressed. The first entry point is, how do we care for those who’ve been hurt? That should be the first issue we take up, and we’re still trying to do that.” 

On other topics:

-- Cardinal Gregory said he is “still trying to figure that out” as he considers what benefit to the Church he will bring as the first Black American cardinal. He said that when he knelt before Pope Francis in November 2020 to receive the biretta, ring and an assigned titular church as a cardinal, he reflected on his heritage as a Black Catholic convert inspired by the Catholic school he attended in Chicago, and he thought about “What is this going to mean for me, what is this going to mean for the African American Catholic Church, and what is it going to mean for the American Church in general?”

In light of last year’s national focus on race reconciliation after the killing of George Floyd, he noted that all Catholics “have a responsibility because of our faith to be on the forefront of the justice movement.”

-- He said President Joe Biden “is not demonstrating Catholic teaching,” when he said in a press conference the previous week that he disagrees about when human life begins. When discussing a new Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks of fetal development, Biden said, “I respect those who believe life begins in the moment of conception – I respect that… (I) don’t agree, but I respect that.”

Cardinal Gregory said the Church teaches human life begins at conception. He noted that he served as an auxiliary bishop under Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin who emphasized the “consistent ethic of life, which says that life issues are linked.”

“They’re not at the same level,” Washington’s archbishop said. “There are life issues that are predominant. Obviously, the conception of a child is the first life concern. But those life issues have to extend to all the other moments of human existence as well. His consistent ethic teaching says that the prisoner, the immigrant, those with physical or emotional handicaps, the very aged and terminally ill, all fall under the issue of the dignity of human life… He’s saying they’re linked, not because they are the same, but they are linked because they are all human.’

The cardinal also criticized the death penalty, saying, “We’ve discovered over time, it’s not always equally applied. The poor, people of color, immigrants are more susceptible to having death penalty sentences handed down than the wealthy affluent who can afford the best legal defense available.” He also said there have been “too many cases where people have been sentenced and unfortunately put to death, and with the development of scientific research, it’s been proven, or at least been raised to a serious doubt, that maybe the trial itself has been flawed.”

-- Asked whether women would be allowed to become priests, he responded succinctly, “The answer is no,” adding when further questioned: “That’s our belief, our custom, our practice, and I don’t see it changing.”

-- To a question from Matthews about whether the recent “Pestilence, wars, earthquakes” mean the world is in the “last days” as referenced in Scripture, he replied: ‘I don’t think so. What we’re doing is experiencing the opportunity, the necessity, of taking charge of our environment more effectively. Whether you are a proponent of climate change or energy programs that step away from fossil fuels, you have to acknowledge that if we don’t get a handle on this, things are going to get worse.”

The cardinal said he does believe in climate change, adding, “It’s pretty clear that we need to find ways to protect our environment, so the next generation – and I believe there will be a next generation – will inherit the benefits of the Earth and God’s creation.”

-- Asked who he would side with in the local football rivalry between Gonzaga and DeMatha Catholic high schools, Cardinal Gregory said he gets pressure in both directions from his staff. Chancellor Terry Farrell and his family are diehard DeMatha supporters, he explained. And his executive assistant Deirdre Schmutz has two sons who attended Gonzaga. “So when Gonzaga and DeMatha play each other, I don’t come into work that day,” the cardinal said jokingly.

The event was the first in-person Headliners Luncheon for the club since March 2020, when pandemic restrictions curtailed live events. Cardinal Gregory’s predecessors as archbishop also typically spoke at similar events over the years.

(Mark Zimmermann contributed to this story.)