Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said he would step down as archbishop of the Washington Archdiocese in June after Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation Tuesday.
McCarrick, 75, will be replaced by Pittsburgh Bishop Donald Wuerl. McCarrick called Wuerl a close friend at a news conference to introduce the new leader of the archdiocese, which encompasses 565,000 Catholics and 115 parochial schools in the District and Maryland.
“He has been a wonderful friend to me over so many years and I have watched with delight and deep respect — and sometimes with more than a little envy — the great things that the church of Pittsburgh has accomplished under his leadership,” McCarrick said.
McCarrick, who was made Washington archbishop by Pope John Paul II in 2000, submitted his resignation last July when he turned 75, as required by canon law. While Pope John Paul II regularly allowed priests to serve well past the mandatory retirement age, Benedict is known to hold to a stricter reading of church law, officials said.
Wuerl, 65, who grew up in Pittsburgh but attended Catholic University in the District and briefly served on its board, said McCarrick has “set the bar very high” and said he was honored to “follow in the footsteps of a giant.”
Wuerl said he will not be ready to announce any major plans until he gets to know the archdiocese.
“I haven’t been here long enough to even know how to get back and forth to the cathedral,” Wuerl said.
He did make an immediate effort to connect with the area’s large population of Catholic Hispanics — estimated to make up 30 percent of the parishioners in the archdiocese — by speaking several paragraphs of his prepared speech in broken but well-enunciated Spanish.
Unlike McCarrick, who was wildly popular among Hispanics and gave the opening prayer at last month’s immigration rally on the National Mall, Wuerl is not fluent in the language, officials said.
Catholic shakeup
» Donald Weurl oversaw 800,000 Catholics in 215 parishes as bishop of Pittsburgh for 18 years.
» Wuerl, 65, will be officially installed June 22, officials said.
» Theodore McCarrick is expected to stay in Washington and continue to serve in the College of Cardinals and on the board of Catholic Relief Services, a church spokeswoman said.
» Mayor Anthony Williams, who is Catholic, called McCarrick a “beloved shepherd of our city” and a close counsel and personal friend he will continue to call on as a mentor.
