Wilton Daniel Gregory (born December 7, 1947) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Washington from 2019 to 2025.

He led the USCCB in issuing the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" in response to the sexual abuse scandal in the American Catholic Church.

[3] Gregory's parents divorced when he was young, and his grandmother, Etta Mae Duncan, subsequently moved in with the family at their home on the South Side of Chicago.

[7] Gregory received his episcopal consecration on December 13, 1983, from Bernardin, with Bishops Alfred Abramowicz and Nevin Hayes serving as co-consecrators.

On December 29, 1993, John Paul II appointed Gregory as the seventh bishop of Belleville;[8] he was installed on February 10, 1994.

[10] During Gregory's presidency, the USCCB issued the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" in response to sex abuse cases by clergy.

In 2002, in recognition of Gregory's handling of the sex abuse scandal, Time Magazine chose him as a Person of the Week.

In 2014, Gregory was criticized after the archdiocese used $2.2 million from a bequest to build a new archbishop's residence in the Buckhead section of Atlanta on church property.

[24] At a 2017 conference at Boston College in Boston, Massachusetts, Gregory called Pope Francis's 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, on the pastoral love of families, as a;"...document that recognizes the real and serious problems and challenges facing families today, but at the same time it is a proclamation of hope through the mercy and grace of God.

"Gregory said that Francis "challenges the church and its pastors to move beyond thinking that everything is black and white, so that we sometimes close off the way of grace and growth.

[29][30] In an August 2019 interview with Crux Magazine, Gregory criticized rhetoric from President Donald Trump, saying, "I fear that recent public comments by our president and others and the responses they have generated, have deepened divisions and diminished our national life"; he called for an "end" to "the growing plague of offense and disrespect in speech and actions.

Along with other religious leaders, Gregory immediately condemned the visit, saying,"I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree… Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings.

He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.

[38] Gregory would deliver the invocation at the ceremony memorializing victims of the coronavirus pandemic prior to Biden's inauguration.

Following the release of Traditionis custodes, which severely restricted the use of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, Gregory promulgated new liturgical norms in accordance with the motu proprio.

[40][41] Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Washington on 6 January 2025, and named Robert McElroy to succeed him.

He noted a "clear divergence of opinions" with Biden on abortion rights for women, but a closer alignment of views with him on the "respect for the dignity of our immigrant community"; on an "...end to capital punishment"; and "...the pursuit of racial and social justice.

"[52][55][57] In 2003, Gregory criticized the 2003 US Supreme Court decision on Lawrence v. Texas that laws criminalizing sodomy between consenting adults were unconstitutional.