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Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, will be one of the 13 new cardinals that Pope Francis will invest in the Vatican.
The archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, is about to make history: this Saturday, November 28, he will become the first black American cardinal. Until then, hoard interviews like a Hollywood star.
The 72-year-old prelate, currently in quarantine in Rome, does not seem nervous on the eve of the great ceremony, as he speaks via videoconference about the “important choice” that Pope Francis has made in showing “his support for the African American community.”.
“I’m just a person, but right now I’m a symbolic individual,” this Chicago native told AFP with a big smile.
However, remember that Father Augustus Tolton, born in Missouri to slave parents in the 19th century and the first African American priest (ordained in Rome because he was rejected by the seminaries of his country), could be beatified.
In June, Washington’s first black archbishop for 18 months did not hesitate to criticize the US president’s attempt to “intimidate” the crowd through religion. Donald Trump had just posed with a Bible in his hand in front of a church near the White House, the day after the brutal dispersal of anti-racist protesters.
“Zero tolerance” against abuse
The prelate is also known for advocating “zero tolerance” against clergy sexual abuse, especially when he was president of the American Bishops’ Conference in the early 2000s.
In this context of scandals affecting the Church, the Holy See has just published a devastating report on the influential former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington expelled from the priesthood in 2019, after being convicted of sexual abuse of minors and adults.
“A sad but important report for the future” with a view to reviewing the bishop selection process, says Wilton Gregory.
Once the “princes of the Church” have been called, on Saturday 13 new cardinals will be chosen by Pope Francis.
Reflection on the “diversity of the Church”
In almost eight years of his pontificate, the 83-year-old Argentine pope has selected from among the prelates the majority of “cardinal electors” (who will choose his successor), often according to his ideas and under 80 years old.
“The Holy Father has worked to include different races, languages and cultures in the college of cardinals”, congratulates Monsignor Gregory. “He has appointed cardinals in countries they never had, clearly he wants a college of cardinals that reflects the great diversity of the Church”.
As agreed, the new cardinals on Saturday 28-N will kneel before the Pope to receive his mortarboard and cardinal’s ring in the sumptuous St. Peter’s Basilica.
Due to the coronavirus, there will be very little audience at the ceremony. The pandemic also prevented two Asian prelates from making the trip.
Monsignor Gregory went to Rome with an aide, without family or friends, “only happy to participate with Pope Francis in a consistory that will be unusual”.
The future cardinal also has the image of a moderate and a man of dialogue, in an American Catholic Church very divided between progressives and ultraconservatives, on many occasions hostile to the pope.
“This must change. The divisions that appear so harshly in public expectation do not correspond to our vocation in the Church”, concluded the archbishop.
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