Abp Gregory Appointed to Washington; Guam Archbishop Guilty of Sexually Abusing Minors
Two breaking stories from Rome for U.S. Catholics this morning: Archbishop Wilton Gregory appointed to Washington D.C.; a guilty verdict against Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Guam is upheld.
The Vatican announced today that Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta has been appointed archbishop of Washington D.C., replacing Cardinal Donald Wuerl who resigned last October.
The Vatican also announced that a guilty verdict passed down to Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Guam has been upheld on appeal. The archbishop was found guilty last March but details of the charges were not made public at the time.
The archbishop is guilty of “delicts against the Sixth Commandment with minors,” the Vatican said today. See here for more details on the case.
The full text of the Vatican statement:
“As was announced on 16 March 2018, the Apostolic Tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded a First Instance canonical penal trial in the case of the Most Reverend Anthony Sablan Apuron, O.F.M.Cap. (Agaña, Guam). As was noted at the time, an appeal was possible and was in fact lodged. That appeal has been concluded. On 7 February 2019, the Tribunal of Second Instance upheld the sentence of First Instance finding the Archbishop guilty of delicts against the Sixth Commandment with minors. The penalties imposed are as follows: the privation of office; the perpetual prohibition from dwelling, even temporarily, in the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Agaña; and the perpetual prohibition from using the insignia attached to the rank of bishop. This decision represents the definitive conclusion in this case. No further appeals are possible.”
Edward Pentin Edward Pentin is the Register’s Senior Contributor and EWTN News Vatican Analyst. He began reporting on the Pope and the Vatican with Vatican Radio before moving on to become the Rome correspondent for EWTN's National Catholic Register. He has also reported on the Holy See and the Catholic Church for a number of other publications including Newsweek, Newsmax, Zenit, The Catholic Herald, and The Holy Land Review, a Franciscan publication specializing in the Church and the Middle East. Edward is the author of The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates (Sophia Institute Press, 2020) and The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family (Ignatius Press, 2015). Follow him on Twitter at @edwardpentin.
