Gregory, Wilton Daniel

Gregory, Wilton Daniel, 1947–, American Roman Catholic cardinal, b. Chicago. Ordained in 1973, he was educated at Niles College (now St. Joseph's College Seminary) of Loyola Univ., Chicago, St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Ill., and the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, Rome (Ph.D., 1980). He served as a parish priest in Illinois and taught at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary before becoming auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 1983. Bishop of Belleville, Ill., from 1994, Gregory served as vice president (1998–2001) of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and then as president (2001–4), becoming the first African American to hold the office. During his tenure, the USCCB established a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse. Gregory was appointed archbishop of Atlanta in 2004 and archbishop of Washington in 2019, and in 2020 became the first African Amerinan cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

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