Wilton Gregory, the first African American to be named as cardinal and known as a refined diplomat, made headlines when he blasted President Donald Trump’s photo opportunity hoisting a Bible at a Washington church after police used tear gas to clear demonstrators in June.
Gregory, who was among 13 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on Sunday, was installed as the first Black Archbishop of Washington, D.C. in 2019. He turns 73 just days after the naming ceremony for new cardinals next month.
Pope Francis on Sunday said Gregory was picked with others from Rwanda, the Philippines and elsewhere to wear the revered red cap.
An outspoken civil rights advocate, Gregory has addressed the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in May.
In June, he blasted Trump’s visit to a Washington shrine honouring Pope John Paul II, a day after police and armed soldiers used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear protesters so Trump could be photographed in front of a historic Washington church holding up a Bible.
“I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people, even those with whom we might disagree,” Gregory said in a statement before Trump and the first lady Melania Trump arrived at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.
Gregory also has been a leader in aggressively addressing the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals and shoring up the church's zero-tolerance policy.
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