The appointment, which is not official until announced by the Vatican, comes after the archdiocese of Washington has been without an official leader for nearly six months. The Apostolic Nunciature, the Holy See’s embassy in Washington which facilitates the appointments of bishops, did not respond to a request for comment.
Gregory, 71, would be the first African American bishop to lead the archdiocese, a position that puts him in line to become the country’s first African American cardinal. He has led the archdiocese of Atlanta since 2005.
The appointment would replace one of Francis’ closest allies in the American church.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who became archbishop of Washington in 2006, resigned in October after he was named in a Pennsylvania grand jury report that accused church officials of covering up sexual abuse.
Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal and the archbishop of Washington before Wuerl, was defrocked in February after church officials found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians over decades. It was the first time an American cardinal had been removed from the priesthood.
The archdiocese of Washington is a historically significant posting. It covers the nation’s capital, the Catholic University of America, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in North America.
Wuerl said when he resigned that he was “stepping aside to allow for new leadership that doesn’t have this baggage.”
His resignation divided the Washington region and frustrated many victims’ advocates who saw it as an insufficient consequence for his actions. Although Francis accepted his resignation, the pontiff defended him as a model bishop and named him the caretaker of the archdiocese until a successor was named. Wuerl continues to serve on powerful Vatican offices, including one that advises the pope on bishop appointments.
Gregory was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002, when sexual abuse scandals erupted in Boston. He pushed to pass the Dallas Charter, which instituted a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse of minors.
“From this day forward,” said Gregory, who was then the bishop of Belleville, Illinois, “no one known to have sexually abused a child will work in the Catholic Church in the United States. We bishops apologize to anyone harmed by one of our priests, and for our tragically slow response in recognizing the horror of sexual abuse.”
At a time of gentrification in Washington and racial tensions nationwide, the appointment is especially significant for the region’s African American Catholic community. The appointment is expected to come exactly 51 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
In Atlanta, Gregory has been known for his closeness to Francis’ vision. He commissioned an innovative plan after the pontiff’s signature encyclical on the environment in 2015, with practical steps for Catholics to protect the environment at church and at home. He has called on Congress to create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally. The diocese has grown to 1.2 million Catholics under his leadership.
Last fall, Gregory invited the Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest, to Atlanta to speak on welcoming LGBT Catholics, a decision that angered many conservative activists. In an interview, Martin called him “one of the most compassionate and open-minded bishops” when it came to supporting LGBT Catholics, their families and parishes.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.