Originally published at National Catholic Register
Outspokenly progressive, Cardinal McElroy is now poised to take over the ecclesiastical territory of the nation’s capital just as Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term as president of the United States.
Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy, bishop of San Diego, to lead the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., the Vatican announced Monday.
The 70-year-old cardinal, who holds doctorates in moral theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and in political science from Stanford, succeeds Cardinal Wilton Gregory in leading the archdiocese that serves over half a million Catholics in southern Maryland and the U.S. capital.
In his nearly 10 years as bishop of California’s southernmost diocese, Cardinal McElroy has been vocal on a number of controversial issues at the intersection of politics and Church life. He is considered by many to also be the U.S. cardinal whose thinking most aligns with Pope Francis.
Outspokenly progressive, Cardinal McElroy is now poised to take over the ecclesiastical territory of the nation’s capital just as Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term as president of the United States.
Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration for his first term in 2017, Cardinal McElroy told a gathering of faith-based groups that
