Pope Francis on Monday tapped Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego to become the archbishop of Washington, D.C., selecting one of his most progressive allies to head the Catholic Church in the U.S. capital before President-elect Trump’s new administration begins. 

The Vatican announced the appointment in its daily bulletin on Monday. McElroy, 70, replaces Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who at 77 is two years beyond the normal retirement age for bishops.

Francis has long had his eye on McElroy, making him bishop of San Diego in 2015 and then elevating him to a cardinal in 2022.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the Catholic community in our nation’s capital and for the confidence His Holiness has placed in me, but I have truly loved the last ten years I’ve spent as bishop of San Diego,” McElroy said in a statement, according to the Washington Post. “I have never in my life felt more welcomed, more supported or more rewarded.”

Burch, president and co-founder of the advocacy group CatholicVote, has criticized Francis and some of his policies on social media. He also questioned leadership in the Catholic Church regarding FBI investigations into several parishes. 

The FBI’s relationship with the Catholic Church has also been under fire after the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee said in December 2023 that it received documents supporting how the bureau allegedly “singled out Americans who are pro-life, pro-family, and support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction as potential domestic terrorists.”

Local and federal law enforcement have been involved in the Catholic Church’s reckoning of alleged sexual abuse of minors going back decades. In 2018, the Archdiocese of Washington, which McElroy will now lead, posted the names of 28 archdiocesan priests “who were credibly accused of child sex abuse going back to the archdiocese’s founding in 1948 onward,” following a D.C. attorney general investigation. 

Cardinal Robert Walter McElroy speaks, during a press conference at the Vatican, Aug. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

However, the diocese said, “there had not been an incident of abuse of a minor by an archdiocesan clergy member for almost 20 years.” 

Francis made the appointment ahead of his final meeting with President Biden, who is making a last foreign trip to Italy this week. The two are expected to meet on Friday.

Biden emerged from a 2021 meeting with Francis by saying the pope told him to continue receiving Communion despite his position on abortion. He later received the sacrament at a Rome church.

The Archdiocese of Washington includes the District of Columbia and five Maryland counties of Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Calvert and Charles. The area has a total population of 3,050,847, of which 671,187 are Catholic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.