Who is Wilton D Gregory, the first African American cardinal elector?

Team Udayavani, Oct 27, 2020, 1:13 PM IST

Pope Francis named 13 new cardinals on Sunday, among them Washington DC archbishop Wilton Gregory will be the first African American to earn the coveted red hat

Recently, he made headlines when he criticised Donald Trump’s willingness to use religion for political purposes.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory

Wilton Gregory was born December 7, 1947 in Chicago to Wilton Sr. and Ethel Duncan Gregory, he has two sisters, Elaine and Claudia. He attended St. Carthage Grammar School, where he converted to Catholicism

Gregory was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 9, 1973, and three years after his ordination began graduate studies at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome. There he earned his doctorate in sacred liturgy in 1980.

He wrote extensively on church issues, served on several church committees, and was vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was elected to a three-year term as president of the conference on November 13, 2001.

According to Britannica, In December 2004 Gregory was appointed archbishop of Atlanta by Pope John Paul II, and he was installed the following year. Gregory drew praise for his continued work to prevent sex abuse.

As reported by The Guardian, In June, a day after civil rights demonstrators were forcibly cleared from a square to facilitate the president’s visit to an Episcopal church near the White House, Gregory was publicly critical of Trump’s decision to visit to the St John Paul II National Shrine.