WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

October 14, 2018

By Moriah Balingit

On a somber, gray Sunday afternoon, parishioners streamed into the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Columbia Heights, many to celebrate the canonization of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was slain in 1980 after speaking out against military repression in El Salvador.

But as they celebrated the elevation of one beloved archbishop, many also were celebrating their first Mass after the downfall of their own.

On Friday, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, the cardinal who for 12 years oversaw the archdiocese where more than a half-million Catholics worship.

Wuerl stepped down after a report from a Pennsylvania grand jury that depicted decades of systemic sexual abuse within the church — some of it occurring in Pittsburgh, where Wuerl served as bishop.