Cardinal Gregory's Apology

The teachings of the Catholic Church on homosexuality are very, very clear.  “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination,” the Lord God tells Moses and the Israelites in Leviticus 18:22.  “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,’ states the Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 2357).  

 
Yet earlier this week, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the outgoing Archbishop of the District of Columbia offered a lengthy apology to members of the LGBT+ etc. community at an event held on 22 January 2025 for members of a dissident Catholic LGBT+ etc group.  

 
“There is no room for religious bigotry that is largely fueled by lack of knowledge and ignorance on the part of peoples who may call themselves religious but whose behavior violates the basic tenets of most of the great faith traditions of the world,” said Cardinal Gregory.  

So apparently in Cardinal Gregory’s estimation, supporting Sacred Scripture and the Church’s traditional teachings on homosexuality is “religious bigotry that is largely fueled by lack of knowledge and ignorance.”   

The LGBT+ etc. publication The Washington Blade celebrated Cardinal Gregory’s apology and seeming repudiation of Catholic teaching on homosexuality.  See https://www.washingtonblade.com/2025/01/27/catholic-cardinal-apologizes-church-treatment-lgbtq/  

This same publication also praised Cardinal Gregory’s appointment as Archbishop of DC back in 2020, writing “LGBTQ Catholics familiar with Gregory said he spoke out on a number of occasions in support of the LGBTQ community during his tenure as archbishop of Atlanta.”  See  https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/10/26/pope-francis-names-d-c-archbishop-as-cardinal/    

What makes Cardinal Gregory’s apology and support for homosexual behavior so disturbing is that it is so blatantly contrary to Sacred Scripture and the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church.  As Archbishop of DC, Cardinal Gregory is a successor of the Apostles, the very men whom our Lord and Savior entrusted with the leadership of his Holy Church. He owes his teaching authority to the Apostolic succession from them.  Even more disturbing, Cardinal Gregory’s pro-LGBT+ etc. comments are not isolated incidents as several other prominent leaders of our Holy Church are also overt supporters of homosexual behavior.  

 
The good news is that Cardinal Gregory is on his way out as Archbishop of DC as he has reached mandatory retirement age.  The bad news is that his named successor Cardinal Robert McElroy is even more supportive of LGBT+ etc.  When McElroy’s appointment as Archbishop of DC was announced, The Washington Blade called him a ‘brilliant theologian and astute political analyst.’    See https://www.washingtonblade.com/2025/01/08/pope-names-lgbtq-supportive-cardinal-mcelroy-head-archdoicese-washington/    

 
In no way am I advocating that LGBT+ persons be persecuted and denied basic human rights because of their lifestyle.  Jesus tells us in Scripture “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  The Church echoes this sentiment in paragraph 2358 of the Catechism: “They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”

 
Treating LGBT+ persons with respect, compassion and sensitivity, however, does not mean accepting their sinful behavior.  For some persons, accepting the Church’s prohibitions on homosexual sin may be difficult.  In his own day, many persons found Jesus’s teachings on a range of issues to be difficult, even unacceptable.  Yet Jesus never wavered in preaching the Truth.  Neither should we.