D.C. cardinal urges prayer, reflection before November elections

Friday, Oct. 18, 2024

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington said he hopes U.S. voters who are as concerned as he is about the “anger and vitriol” of the current election cycle will take time away from the media to think and pray about the values important to them as Catholics.

“Pray. Reflect. Decide.” Those are the steps Pope Francis once recommended to voters in Argentina, and Cardinal Gregory said they are the best approach.

“Those who are running for public office probably will not satisfy each and every issue that lies before you,” so Catholics must decide which issues are most important to them and then “rank them, learn about them, pray about them, make a conscientious decision,” the cardinal said.

Cardinal Gregory spoke to Catholic News Service Oct. 15 while at the Vatican for the meeting of the Synod of Bishops.

Other members of the synod from around the globe have mentioned the election to him, he said. “They know that I’m the archbishop of our nation’s capital. They suspect that some of these issues that are on the national horizon are things that have touched my own life and my own ministry. But you know they, too, are somewhat perplexed by the anger, the vitriol, the rhetoric.”

Some of them are annoyed by what they see on the news and on social media, others are confused and still others are frightened, he said, because of the role the United States plays in the international community.

In the Oct. 3 issue of the Catholic Standard, his archdiocesan newspaper, Cardinal Gregory wrote a column on “Approaching Election Day as citizens and people of faith,” pointing to the U.S. bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” and to the statement he and the other bishops of Maryland wrote urging voters to reject Question 1, which if passed would declare “reproductive freedom,” including abortion, a fundamental right.

Abortion is a “fundamental” issue, but not the only one, he told CNS.

Abortion falls under the “umbrella” of “the reverence and the respect that is due human life,” the cardinal said. “And that umbrella is wide enough to also include the dignity of people who are seeking entry into our country as immigrants,” the use of capital punishment and the need for jobs that pay enough so that people can support their families.