VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis, joined by the church’s newest cardinals in Mass on Sunday, warned against mediocrity as well as seeking out “godfathers” to promote one's own career.
Eleven of the 13 new cardinals sat near the central altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, where Francis on Saturday had bestowed upon them the red hats symbolizing they are now so-called princes of the church.
Among those raised to cardinal's rank on Saturday by Francis was the current archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, the first African-American cardinal.
Wilton also served as bishop of Belleville, Illinois, for 10 years, beginning at the end of 1993.
Most removed their masks when they approached a maskless Francis to receive their red hats, but Gregory kept his on. Gregory also was one of the only new cardinals who kept his mask on when the group paid a singing courtesy visit to retired Pope Benedict XVI.
In his homily, Francis decried what he called “a dangerous kind of sleep: it is the slumber of mediocrity.” He added that Jesus “above all else detests lukewarm-ness.”
Being chosen to head Vatican departments or eventually becoming pope themselves could be in any of these new cardinals’ future. Cardinals often advise popes and pick the next pontiff by conferring among themselves and then meeting in secret conclave to select one of their own to lead the Roman Catholic Church and its roughly 1.3 billion rank-and-file faithful.
Francis has often warned against clericalism during his papacy, and he picked up on that theme in Sunday's homily.
“If we are awaited in Heaven, why should we be caught up with earthly concerns? Why should we be anxious about money, fame, success, all of which will fade away?” the pope said.
Deviating from his prepared text, he added: “Why look for godfathers for promoting one’s career?”
Gregory, in an interview in October with The Associated Press, said he hopes the U.S. hierarchy can broaden its concept of “pro-life” so that other pressing issues can be considered top priorities along with opposition to abortion.
He also endorsed proposals to include the history of Black Catholics in the U.S. as part of the curriculum in Catholic schools. Earlier this year, amid nationwide demonstrations against racial injustice, some Black Catholics said the curriculum should be more honest about the church’s past links to slavery and segregation, and more detailed in portraying how Black Catholics persevered.
All U.S. Catholics “should know the full panoply of the heritage of Black people in the church,” Gregory said. “It’s not a full history until all the components have a rightful place in the telling of the story.”
There also have been calls for the Catholic church to offer some sort of reparations because of its past involvement in slavery, but Gregory said any such initiatives would have to be made by individual institutions, not by the church as a whole. He cited the example of Catholic-affiliated Georgetown University, which is committing funds to benefit the descendants of enslaved people sold to pay off the school’s debts.
Former Belleville bishop Wilton Gregory becomes country's first Black cardinal
Gregory was emphatic that “respect for life in the womb” should remain a top priority but said the references to it being the preeminent issue “could benefit from rephrasing.”
The current phasing “implies that other dimensions of human life can be dispensed with – and they can’t,” he said.
Recently, the Rev. James Altman, a priest from Wisconsin, declared in a YouTube video: “You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat” and warned that Catholics risked “the fires of hell” if they backed a party favoring abortion rights.
Gregory depicted such remarks as “egregious and unhelpful,” and said Catholic voters should base their voting decisions on “the full panoply of the church’s social teaching.”
Another volatile issue now confronting Catholic clergy involves the status of LGBT people in the church. In October, a documentary film premiered in Rome with a segment in which Pope Francis endorsed the concept of civil unions for same-sex couples.
Gregory has drawn notice for his relatively inclusive approach for LGBT Catholics, and said it was essential that they be treated with respect. In the interview, he opted not to urge Catholic schools and other Catholic employers to discontinue the occasional firings of employees who have a same-sex partner or spouse, saying “It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.”
The 72-year-old Gregory was ordained in his native Chicago in 1973 and took over leadership of the Washington archdiocese last year after serving as archbishop of Atlanta since 2005.
The previous two archbishops in Washington — Donald Wuerl and Theodore McCarrick — were implicated in the church’s long-running clergy sex-abuse scandal.
Francis in February 2019 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.
Pope Francis also has authorized a study of the Vatican archives to determine how McCarrick had risen through the ranks despite allegations he slept with seminarians and young priests. Two years later, the Vatican still hasn’t released the report or given any timetable for when it might.
Gregory said he had no advance knowledge of the timetable.
“When it is issued, I hope it is complete, fair and transparent,” he said.
