Cardinal Gregory is the first African-American bishop to be elevated to the esteemed College of the Cardinals within the Catholic Church, when he was appointed by His Holiness Pope Francis in April of 2019.
Boulevard in the Jamaica Estates section of Queens, where he led the Mass of Thanksgiving on Feb. 20.
Sponsored by the Brooklyn Vicariate for Black Catholic Concerns and The Office of Multicultural Diversity for the Diocese of Rockville Center, the Black History Month cultural celebrations took place prior to the Mass of Thanksgiving. Cardinal Gregory became an ordained priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 9, 1973 and was ordained an Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago in 1983. On Feb. 10, 1994 Gregory was installed as the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois. On Jan. 17, 2005, he was installed as the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.