The Catholic News Agency, citing anonymous sources, reported Thursday that the pope is going to appoint Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory to replace embattled D.C. Cardinal Donald Wuerl. But in a divided church, the news was quickly overshadowed by questions and suspicions about the leaks themselves.
By Michelle Boorstein Michelle Boorstein Religion reporter Email Bio Follow March 30 at 12:28 PM When the pope names a new bishop for a diocese, it’s always buzzy Catholic news. But a leaked report this week about the next archbishop of Washington was big news for unexpected reasons.
Another theory is the leaks came as a push to make Gregory, who is seen as happy and mostly popular in Atlanta, feel more obligated to accept the pope’s offer if it was made public.The Vatican and church officials in Washington and Atlanta declined to verify the report, leading some to speculate that it was untrue, Gregory could be considering turning it down or the pope could change his mind.
“Even without the abuse stuff, this would be important because of the political situation, the polarization, the fraught state of the country,” said Rocco Palmo, author of the popular Catholic news site Whispers in the Loggia. “Whomever is in D.C. will set an important tone for the church politically on issues of priority — be it abortion, immigration, whatever. This appointment is too big to fail. This is the most significant thing Francis will do in the United States during his papacy.
The D.C. archdiocese, which includes the District and Maryland suburbs, is a prosperous, healthy part of the Catholic Church and has been rocked since summer, when its last archbishop — Theodore McCarrick — was suspended for alleged child sexual abuse. Then Wuerl was forced to retire early after the release of a bombshell grand jury report out of Pennsylvania about clergy mishandling and coverup of abusive priests.
With Washington at the epicenter of the crisis, Francis’s pick for the seat will likely be seen as a statement on the scandal engulfing the global church. Francis is seen by many survivors as uneven on the topic. “Cardinal Bernardin left a legacy of dilution of Catholic teaching and subversion of the fight to protect unborn babies and their mothers,” wrote the Catholic Laity for Orthodox Bishops and Reform.
“Black Catholics’ experienced the disrespect shown to the first black president in a way that white Catholics never did,” Winters said. “Even conservative black Catholics who disagree with Barack Obama on many things were turned off by the vile response he got. To receive a black archbishop in the nation’s capital will be a real shot in the arm.”
Terry McKiernan, who leads the anti-abuse organization Bishop Accountability, gave Gregory high marks in some areas — in particular for leading the creation of the Dallas Charter, a document for the U.S. church that created a zero-tolerance policy for priests. Gerard O’Connell, a longtime Vatican reporter in Rome who recently wrote an article with a very rare leak from the most recent pope vote, in 2013, said Friday that it is very unusual for names of new bishops to get out well in advance.
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