(ZENIT News / Washington, DC, 08.01.2025).- On Monday, January 6, fourteen days before President Trump takes office, Pope Francis appointed a new Archbishop for the country’s capital. Given that the new Archbishop is Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, not a few of the American media have pointed out the latter’s openly critical and hostile tendency towards the new President Elect. In reality, it’s a change of continuity, as the outgoing Archbishop, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, is also openly critical of Donald Trump.
The Archdiocese of Washington, DC covers 2,104 square miles in the District of Columbia and the five counties of Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Calvert and Charles in the State of Maryland. The total population numbers 3,050,847 but only 671,187 are Catholics. The importance of this diocese of the Catholic Church lies in the fact that the White House is located in it.
Pope Francis prolonged Cardinal Gregory’s mandate for two years (a resignation is usually tendered at 75 but the Archbishop of Washington is already 77). In mid-June 2024, McElroy, 70, announced the bankruptcy of the diocese of San Diego, resulting from cases of sexual abuse by the clergy. In the recent past, the Archbishop of San Diego has faced controversies sparked by heterodox statements regarding a number of subjects, especially human sexuality.
