PERSON: Donald Wuerl
Biography
Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the sixth Archbishop of Washington, serving since 2006. He previously served as Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle (1986–87) and Bishop of Pittsburgh (1988–2006). He was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Donald Wuerl was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the second of four children of Francis and Mary Anna (née Schiffauer) Wuerl.[1] He has two brothers, Wayne and Dennis, and a sister, Carol.[2] His father worked nights weighing freight cars for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and served in the Navy during World War II.[2] His mother died in 1944, and his father married Kathryn Cavanaugh in 1946.
Wuerl received his early education at the parochial school of St. Mary of the Mount Church in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1958. He then attended the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he was a Basselin Scholar at Theological College.[4] He there earned a Bachelor’s degree (1962) and Master’s degree (1963) in philosophy.
He continued his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.[1] He earned a master’s degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1967. After ordination, Wuerl was sent to Rome for further theological study. He is an alumnus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum where he obtained a doctorate in theology in 1974.
He was ordained a priest on December 17, 1966. His first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Rosalia parish in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood and as secretary to then-Pittsburgh bishop John Wright, who was elevated to cardinal in 1969; Wuerl was his full-time secretary in Vatican City from 1969 until Wright’s death in 1979.
Because Cardinal Wright had to use a wheelchair due to his severe arthritis in 1978, Wuerl, as Wright’s secretary, was one of three non-cardinals permitted inside the conclave, which selected Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II.
Wuerl was rector at St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh from 1981 to 1985. In 1982, he was made executive secretary to Bishop John Marshall for a papally mandated study of U.S. seminaries.
On November 20, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Wuerl to the College of Cardinals in a public consistory held at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, Rome. He was created Cardinal-Priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli, (Saint Peter in Chains), in Rome. In December 2010, Wuerl was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Clergy and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
On October 24, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI named Wuerl to be the Relator-General of the 2012 World Synod of Bishops meeting on the New Evangelization.
On December 10, 2011, he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture for a five-year renewable term.
On April 21, 2012, Cardinal Wuerl was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On December 16, 2013 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.
Wuerl received his early education at the parochial school of St. Mary of the Mount Church in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1958. He then attended the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he was a Basselin Scholar at Theological College.[4] He there earned a Bachelor’s degree (1962) and Master’s degree (1963) in philosophy.
He continued his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.[1] He earned a master’s degree in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1967. After ordination, Wuerl was sent to Rome for further theological study. He is an alumnus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum where he obtained a doctorate in theology in 1974.
He was ordained a priest on December 17, 1966. His first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Rosalia parish in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood and as secretary to then-Pittsburgh bishop John Wright, who was elevated to cardinal in 1969; Wuerl was his full-time secretary in Vatican City from 1969 until Wright’s death in 1979.
Because Cardinal Wright had to use a wheelchair due to his severe arthritis in 1978, Wuerl, as Wright’s secretary, was one of three non-cardinals permitted inside the conclave, which selected Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II.
Wuerl was rector at St. Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh from 1981 to 1985. In 1982, he was made executive secretary to Bishop John Marshall for a papally mandated study of U.S. seminaries.
On November 20, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Wuerl to the College of Cardinals in a public consistory held at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, Rome. He was created Cardinal-Priest of S. Pietro in Vincoli, (Saint Peter in Chains), in Rome. In December 2010, Wuerl was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Clergy and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
On October 24, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI named Wuerl to be the Relator-General of the 2012 World Synod of Bishops meeting on the New Evangelization.
On December 10, 2011, he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture for a five-year renewable term.
On April 21, 2012, Cardinal Wuerl was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. On December 16, 2013 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.
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