Originally published at National Catholic Register
As Catholic dioceses in the United States go, Washington, D.C., isn’t especially populous (31st in number of Catholics), Catholic (a little less than the national average), or old (85 years).
But the archdiocese’s location — where the president lives, the U.S. Supreme Court issues its decisions and Congress does whatever it does — makes its leader one of the most quotable clerics in America.
“It’s a combination of proximity and a sense that this is no ordinary archdiocese,” said Msgr. Charles Pope, Register contributor, author, radio host, and pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Catholic Church, which is east of Capitol Hill.
By virtue of his office, the city’s archbishop is also automatically the chancellor of the country’s only pontifical school of higher education, The Catholic University of America.
When the archbishop of Washington speaks, people pay attention — sometimes wondering if they’re hearing echoes from Rome.
“The Archdiocese of Washington has an archbishop who they know Rome picked especially to represent its views,” Msgr. Pope told the Register. “This has a kind of more international authority that goes directly back to the Vatican itself.”
That helps explain why the naming this week of Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new
