CNA Staff, May 13, 2020 / 09:30 am
Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., has spoken out against the "murderous attack" which caused the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. The archbishop said the killing was a reminder that racism is a virus as deadly as COVID-19.
"Currently, our attention is fixated on the global deadly virus," Archbishop Gregory said on Monday, writing in the archdiocesan newspaper Catholic Standard. "The recent brutal killing of Ahmaud Arbery in the state of Georgia reminds us of another virus that is much older, but just as deadly."
"The virus of racism inflicts hatred, violence, and death in our society and in the lives of far too many people," the archbishop wrote.
Before his appointment to the capital see last year, Gregorys served as Archbishop of Atlanta from 2005 until 2019. Previously the president of the U.S. bishops' conference from 2001 to 2004, Gregory is currently a member of the U.S. bishops' anti-racism task force, and in 2016 was selected to lead the bishops' Special Task Force to Promote Peace in our Communities during a spate of race-related shootings around the country.