Wilton Daniel Gregory

Wilton Daniel Gregory

Wilton Daniel Gregory is the Archbishop of Washington. He is the first American with African ancestry to become a Roman Catholic cardinal. Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal at a consistory held in Rome on November 28, 2020.

About Wilton Daniel Gregory in brief

Summary Wilton Daniel GregoryWilton Daniel Gregory is the Archbishop of Washington. He is the first American with African ancestry to become a Roman Catholic cardinal. Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal at a consistory held in Rome on November 28, 2020. Gregory has been active in the Roman Catholic Church in advocating for the prevention of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic religious. Gregory refused to remove Monsignor Henry Gracz of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta from his position as a spiritual advisor to victims of sexual abuse for allegedly going against the teaching of the Church. He has been one of the leading bishops in the U.S. regarding this endeavor. In 2002, in recognition of his handling of the sex abuse scandal with repeated apologies and the defrocking of priests, he was chosen as Time’s Person of the Week. He was the first African-American to head an episcopal conference, as Vice President from 1998 to 2001 and also chairman of several committees. Gregory is also a member of the board of trustees at The Catholic University of America. He served as Archbishop of Atlanta, from 2005 to 2019; the Bishop of Belleville, Illinois, from 1994 to 2004; and Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago from 1983 to 1994.

He also served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004. He earned a doctorate in liturgy at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute at thePontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in Rome and earned the Doctor of Sacred Liturgy degree. He wrote a bi-weekly column in the Archdiocese of Atlanta entitled \”What I have seen and heard\”. In it, he regularly shared reflections about his faith, work, and experiences. Gregory was complimentary of Pope Francis’s 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia. At a 2017 conference at Boston College, he described it as “a document that recognizes the real and serious problems and challenges facing families today, at the same time it is a proclamation of hope through the mercy and grace of God” He spoke of someone who “challenges the church and its pastors to move beyond thinking that everything is black and white, so we sometimes close off the way of grace and growth”