Vatican City: Wilton Gregory became the first African American to be named as cardinal by Pope Francis on Sunday. Known as a refined diplomat, Gregory made headlines when he blasted President Donald Trump’s photo opportunity hoisting a Bible at a Washington church after police used tear gas to clear demonstrators in June.

The 73-year-old Gregory was among 13 new cardinals named by the Pope. He was installed as the first Black archbishop of Washington in 2019.

Pope Francis on Sunday said Gregory was picked with others from Rwanda, the Philippines and elsewhere to wear the revered red cap.

An outspoken civil rights advocate, Gregory has addressed the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in May.

In June, he blasted Trump’s visit to a Washington shrine honouring Pope John Paul II, a day after police and armed soldiers used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear protesters so Trump could be photographed in front of a historic Washington church holding up a Bible.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2020