Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy to succeed Cardinal Wilton Gregory as the Archbishop of Washington. A progressive voice in the American hierarchy, McElroy’s imminent move to the nation’s capital seems more political than pastoral.
McElroy has previously sparked controversy for his views on eucharistic coherence, the discernment of who can or cannot receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. While the debates about the reception of the Eucharist frequently center on prominent pro-abortion Catholic politicians, all people living out of communion with the Catholic Church are unable to receive the Eucharist — including Catholics who are divorced and remarried and Catholics in same-sex relationships.
In a 2023 America article, McElroy challenged these practices. Bishop Thomas Paprocki, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, responded obliquely to McElroy’s views in a First Things article titled, “Imagining a Heretical Cardinal.” Framed as a thought experiment that illustrates the various theological and canonical structures at play in such a scenario, Paprocki repudiated McElroy’s arguments with scriptural, historical, and theological authority.
Due to McElroy’s controversial views, the pope reportedly considered other candidates to lead the Archdiocese — until Trump got under his skin, that is.
An Unexpected Appointment
In the months-long search for Gregory’s successor, several candidates were put forth, receiving conflicting recommendations from various stakeholders. Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, a progressive prelate and close ally to the pope, supported McElroy for the position, though Pope Francis allegedly made a “firm decision” against McElroy in October. He had been “initially ruled out [for the role] in part because he could be seen as a provocative choice by the incoming administration,” the Pillar reported.
A senior official told the Pillar that Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, opposed McElroy’s candidacy, viewing him as a “‘polarizing’ choice for the D.C. job.” With priorities of achieving peace in Ukraine and the Holy Land, the secretariat of state was reportedly anticipating a “‘non-confrontational’ approach to the incoming Trump administration.”
But President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of CatholicVote president Brian Burch changed the pope’s mind. An anonymous official stated that “the appointment of Burch was perceived at the Secretariat of State as ‘aggressive’ and ‘undiplomatic.’” The Pillar reports:
At the same time, sources close to the process told The Pillar, Cardinal Cupich privately represented the nomination as antagonistic towards Pope Francis personally, requiring an appointment for Washington in response. The result was Pope Francis reversing his previous decision and opting for McElroy.
Keeping An Eye on Trump
When he was introduced as the new archbishop on Monday, Cardinal McElroy foreshadowed conflict with Trump on immigration.
“The Catholic Church teaches that a country has the right to control its borders. And our nation’s desire to do that is a legitimate effort,” he said. “At the same time, we are called always to have a sense of the dignity of every human person. And thus, plans which have been talked about at some levels of having a wider indiscriminate massive deportation across the country would be something that would be incompatible with Catholic doctrine.”
As the Daily Signal pointed out, “McElroy’s comments come after Catholic charities in the United States have been criticized for facilitating the unlawful migration crisis in the United States through their support of illegal aliens who are transported across the border by Mexican drug and trafficking cartels.”
As Archbishop of Washington, McElroy can operate independently from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which has its own system for government relations.
“While the conference aims to establish itself to federal agencies and the White House as the voice of the bishops, the Archbishop of Washington is usually in a position to thwart that,” Catholic reporter JD Flynn wrote for the Pillar. Flynn explained that, while Gregory did not focus on D.C. politics, his predecessors Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Theodore McCarrick were “notorious for putting themselves in the process.”
How McElroy will navigate the imminent second Trump term — and, particularly, the administration’s immigration policies — remains to be seen following his installation as archbishop on March 11.
Inheriting the McCarrick Scandal
Though the role will give him a bully pulpit for criticism of the incoming Trump administration, McElroy will also inherit the disgraceful legacy left by Theodore McCarrick, who served as Washington’s archbishop from 2001 to 2006. Over the past two decades, a decided lack of transparency has characterized the archdiocesan approach to the McCarrick scandal, with Cardinal Wuerl falsely claiming ignorance of his predecessor’s behavior and Cardinal Gregory remaining tight-lipped about the scandal.
Unfortunately, McElroy’s track record doesn’t give much reason to hope for increased transparency on the issue. In 2016, he dismissed concerns about McCarrick’s behavior brought by psychotherapist and clerical sex abuse expert Richard Sipe.
Philip Lawler, director of Catholic Culture and editor of Catholic World News, predicted two consequences of McElroy’s move to D.C.: “He will be a prominent critic of the Trump administration. [And h]e will be criticized himself in turn, because of his ties to … McCarrick.”
“His criticism of the White House may or may not damage Trump. But the criticism of McElroy will undoubtedly damage the credibility of the Catholic hierarchy,” Lawler commented. “So his appointment tells you something about the current priorities of Vatican leadership.”
Mary Frances (Myler) Devlin is a contributing editor at The American Spectator. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2022.
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