Donald Wuerl
American cardinal (born 1940) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American prelate, a cardinal, of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington from 2006 to 2018. He was elevated by Pope John Paul II to serve as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle (1986–1987), and bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh (1988–2006). Pope Benedict XVI named Wuerl as archbishop of Washington and made him a cardinal in 2010.
Donald William Wuerl | |
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Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington | |
Archdiocese | Washington |
Appointed | May 16, 2006 |
Installed | June 22, 2006 |
Retired | October 12, 2018 |
Predecessor | Theodore McCarrick |
Successor | Wilton Daniel Gregory |
Other post(s) | Cardinal-Priest of San Pietro in Vincoli Chancellor of the Catholic University of America |
Orders | |
Ordination | December 17, 1966 by Francis Frederick Reh |
Consecration | January 6, 1986 by John Paul II, Agostino Casaroli, and Bernardin Gantin |
Created cardinal | November 20, 2010 by Benedict XVI |
Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
Personal details | |
Born | Donald William Wuerl (1940-11-12) November 12, 1940 (age 83) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Previous post(s) |
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Motto | Thy kingdom come |
Coat of arms |
Styles of Donald William Wuerl | |
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Reference style | |
Spoken style | Your Eminence |
Informal style | Cardinal |
Ordination history of Donald Wuerl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Wuerl is widely viewed as a theological moderate, and is well known in the church for his ability to forge consensus between different factions. Questions arose in 2018 of whether Wuerl had adequately dealt with allegations of sexual abuse under his jurisdiction. A 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report criticized how he handled sexual abuse cases during his time as bishop in Pittsburgh. Wuerl has denied mishandling the cases. There were additional accusations that Wuerl, despite initially denying it, was aware of sexual abuse accusations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, his predecessor in Washington. On October 12, 2018, Pope Francis accepted Wuerl's resignation as archbishop of Washington. Wuerl remained in charge of the archdiocese as its apostolic administrator until Pope Francis appointed his successor, Archbishop Wilton Daniel Gregory, in 2019.