Pope Francis has tapped Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new archbishop of Washington, D.C., appointing one of his top U.S. allies, one of the American church’s most forceful defenders of migrants and a sharp critic of Donald Trump’s first administration just days before Trump takes office a second time.
McElroy of San Diego will succeed retiring Cardinal Wilton Gregory, 77, who has led the Washington Archdiocese since 2019, where he became the city’s first African American archbishop. In 2020, Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals, making him the first Black U.S. cardinal. 
Over the last decade, McElroy has become one of the most vocal champions of Pope Francis’ pastoral agenda among the U.S. hierarchy. He has frequently echoed the pope’s prioritization of migrants and refugees, environmental concerns and a more welcoming approach to LGBTQ people.
The pope’s selection of a prelate who has not shied from implicit criticism of Trump comes just after Trump announced his selection of a sharp critic of Francis to be the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See – which also marks a contrast to the warm relations the pontiff has enjoyed with President Joe Biden.
McElroy, 70, was first made an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI and then named bishop of San Diego by Francis in 2015. In 2022, the pope made him a cardinal. He has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, and a master’s in U.S. history and a doctorate in political science from Stanford University, among other degrees.
In the U.S. church, McElroy has struck a contrast to many of the more traditionalist bishops in the U.S. and has become one of the leading proponents of Francis’ push for synodality, which focuses on greater lay involvement in the life of the church.