The election of Joe Biden, a devout Roman Catholic, as president of the United States on November 3 has now been followed by the installation of Wilton Daniel Gregory as the first African-American Roman Catholic Cardinal in the U.S.
Gregory, the former Archbishop of Washington, was raised to the rank of Cardinal and made a member of the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis at a consistory held in Rome on Saturday. At that consistory, Pope Francis made Gregory Cardinal Priest of Immacolata Concezione di Maria a Grottarossa.
Gregory, 73, converted to Roman Catholicism when he was 12 years old and a student at the St. Carthage Grammar School in Chicago. He admitted he made his decision to become a priest even before he converted to Catholicism.
He was baptized into the Church and received his First Communion in 1959. Bishop Raymond Hillinger subsequently confirmed him in the same year.
Gregory completed his philosophical studies in Chicago and was ordained a priest in 1973. He obtained a doctorate in liturgy from Rome's Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm.
Gregory was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago in 1983, Bishop of Belleville in 1993, Archbishop of Atlanta in 2004, and Archbishop of Washington in 2019.
He was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from 2001 to 2004.
Gregory will be the fourth American cardinal appointed by Pope Francis. The other American Cardinals are Chicago's Blase Cupich, Newark's Joseph Tobin, and Kevin Farrell, the prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.
Gregory burst into the national consciousness of the U.s. when he sharply criticized the John Paul II National Shrine for hosting a visit by President Donald Trump at the height of the George Floyd protests. Trump's visit came a day after Trump ordered police to beat back peaceful protestors near The White House.
Gregory was one of 13 men, and the only American, elevated to the College of Cardinals Saturday. Pope Francis announced his naming of 13 new Cardinals on October 25.
The new Cardinals are Mario Grech of Malta, Marcello Semeraro of Italy, Antoine Kambanda of Rwanda, Wilton Gregory of the United States, Jose Advincula of the Philippines, Celestino Aós Brac of Chile, Cornelius Sim of Brunei, Augusto Paolo Lojudice of Italy, Mauro Gambetti of Italy, Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of Mexico, Silvano Maria Tomasi of Italy, Raniero Cantalamessa of Italy and Enrico Feroci of Italy.
Six of the 13 Cardinals are Italian, while three are from the Franciscan Order.
As of Saturday, Pope Francis will have appointed nearly 60% of the members of the College of Cardinals. Thirty-nine were appointed by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and 16 by Pope John Paul II.
