Originally published at crisis magazine
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the bishop of San Diego who has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the hierarchy under Pope Francis, has been named the Archbishop of Washington, DC, succeeding Cardinal Wilton Gregory, whose resignation was accepted by the pope.
While any faithful Catholic will be dismayed by this news, it should come as no surprise. McElroy was always destined to leave San Diego for a more influential diocese. The very fact that the bishop of a suffragan diocese was made a Cardinal—while being under a metropolitan archbishop (San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone) who wasn’t himself a Cardinal—was unprecedented. He was clearly being groomed for greater pastures. The irony, however, is that McElroy’s appointment doesn’t increase McElroy’s influence as much as it diminishes the importance of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC.
Recall the recent history of this archdiocese. This century began with Theodore McCarrick being named the archbishop of Washington, DC in November 2000, swiftly followed by his being added to the College of Cardinals a few months later. McCarrick was only archbishop in DC for five years, but his reign established the pattern for the archdiocese. He was particularly talented in two important roles of a bishop: raising money and
