Pope names moderate Gregory as Washington, DC, archbishop

Pope Francis on Thursday named Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory as the new archbishop of Washington DC, choosing a moderate, and the first African-American, to lead the archdiocese that has become the epicenter of the clergy sex abuse crisis in the US.

Gregory, 71, replaces Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who resigned last year after being implicated in covering up abuse by a Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Gregory headed the US bishops conference when it adopted a "zero-tolerance" abuse policy in 2002 to respond to the first wave of the scandal. He has run the Atlanta archdiocese since 2005 and is seen as a pastor very much in line with Francis' progressive vision of the church.

The appointment was first reported by Catholic News Agency.

It is the third major move by Francis to reshape the US hierarchy, which over the previous two papacies took on a culture war-influenced conservative tilt. Francis began elevating more moderate pastors in 2014, when he named Cardinal Blase Cupich as Chicago archbishop and followed up two years later by moving Joseph Tobin to Newark, New Jersey, and making him a cardinal.

While relatively small, the Washington archdiocese has always punched above its weight in influence given its location in the nation's capital. Its archbishops traditionally are made cardinals, meaning Gregory could become the first African-American cardinal.

The archdiocese, though, has become embroiled in the abuse crisis since its previous two leaders Wuerl and his predecessor Theodore McCarrick have been implicated in the scandal.

Francis in February defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican-backed investigation concluded he sexually abused minors and adults over his long career. It was the first time a cardinal had been dismissed from the priesthood for abuse.

Francis reluctantly accepted Wuerl's resignation in October after he lost the trust of his priests and parishioners in the months following the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

The report accused Wuerl of helping to protect some child-molesting priests while he was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006. Simultaneously, Wuerl faced widespread skepticism over his insistence that he knew nothing about McCarrick's misconduct, which was an open secret in US and Vatican circles.

Gregory, by contrast, is still credited for his leadership of the US church during a moment of crisis, when as president of the US bishops conference he persuaded church leaders to adopt toughened penalties for abusers in 2002.

"Gregory has impeccable credentials for dealing with the sex abuse crisis, which is essential for healing the church," the Rev. Thomas Reese, an expert on the American church, said in a column Thursday at Religion News Service.

Gregory also won praise from another American Jesuit, the Rev James Martin, who was invited last year by Gregory to give a talk in Atlanta on how the church should better minister to the LGBT community. The initiative drew criticism from some conservatives who accused Gregory of not upholding church teaching on homosexuality.

In a statement, Martin said Gregory was a "superb choice" for Washington given his leadership on the abuse crisis and because he is "someone who knows how to reach out to marginalised populations."