The announcement confirms CNA's March 28 report that the pope had offered Gregory the post to take over for Wuerl, who has acted as an interim administrator of the archdiocese since Pope Francis accepted his resignation in October 2018.
The Archbishop of Washington is viewed as one of the most influential Churchmen in the United States; the five most recent archbishops were all created cardinals - including the now-laicized Theodore McCarrick.
The archbishop will assume leadership after months of scandal in the Church in the U.S. The Archdiocese of Washington has often been at the epicenter of the scandal.
Gregory, who served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004, helped lead the American hierarchy through the fallout of the Church's 2002 sexual abuse scandals. He oversaw the formation and implementation of the "Dallas Charter" and USCCB's "Essential Norms" in 2002.
Wuerl's record as a bishop came under scrutiny last year, following the revelation of credible allegations of sexual misconduct by McCarrick, and the subsequent release of a grand jury report detailing decades of abuse allegations in six Pennsylvania dioceses, including the Diocese of Pittsburgh, where Wuerl served as bishop from 1988 to 2006.
Amid calls for Wuerl's resignation and demonstrations outside of his Washington residence, the cardinal sent a letter to Pope Francis in September 2018 requesting that his resignation be accepted.