Once Again, New Cardinals Reflect Pope Francis’ Preferences

National Catholic Register, 26 October 2020

Catholics in the U.S. will pay most attention to the elevation of Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., whose appointment is a sign that some power centers matter more than others.

The consistory for new cardinals announced for Nov. 28 illustrates the continuing preference of Pope Francis for the “peripheries,” the papal diplomatic corps and the choice of new cardinals as symbols of papal priorities. 

The inclusion of Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, 40-year preacher of the papal household, will bring delight to many Catholics the world over, but especially in the United States, where he has preached regularly for decades, especially in the Charismatic Renewal.

A Capital Cardinal

American Catholics will pay most attention to the elevation of Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., who was sent to the capital in 2019, after Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s resignation the previous year, following the Pennsylvania grand jury report and the Theodore McCarrick scandal.

Given the Holy Father’s practice of bypassing traditional cardinalatial sees in favor of new ones — and that Washington, D.C., only exists as a separate diocese for political reasons, not ecclesiastical ones — the quick elevation of Archbishop Gregory is a sign that some power centers matter more than others. Along with the de facto granting of a second cardinal to New York City in 2016 — Cardinal Joseph Tobin across the river in Newark, New Jersey — centers of American power have not been slighted in the college. 

As the first Black cardinal in the United States, some have interpreted Archbishop Gregory’s elevation as a nod to increased racial consciousness this past year. Perhaps, but racial-diversity considerations were likely marginal, otherwise Archbishop José Gomez — the Mexican American head of the largest diocese in the country and fierce advocate for immigrants — would not have been passed over by Pope Francis for the seventh straight time. Between Washington — a center of power but small in population — and Los Angeles, a behemoth of the Latino future of Catholicism in the U.S., it is striking that Pope Francis chose Washington.

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