Cardinal Robert McElroy, the bishop of San Diego who has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the hierarchy under Pope Francis, has been named the Archbishop of Washington, DC, succeeding Cardinal Wilton Gregory, whose resignation was accepted by the pope.

While any faithful Catholic will be dismayed by this news, it should come as no surprise. McElroy was always destined to leave San Diego for a more influential diocese. The very fact that the bishop of a suffragan diocese was made a Cardinal—while being under a metropolitan archbishop (Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez) who wasn’t himself a Cardinal—was unprecedented. He was clearly being groomed for greater pastures. The irony, however, is that McElroy’s appointment doesn’t increase McElroy’s influence as much as it diminishes the importance of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. Make America Healthy A... Saphier M.D., Nicole Best Price: $12.93 Buy New $17.79 (as of 03:41 UTC - Details)

Recall the recent history of this archdiocese. This century began with Theodore McCarrick being named the archbishop of Washington, DC in November 2000, swiftly followed by his being added to the College of Cardinals a few months later. McCarrick was only archbishop in DC for five years, but his reign established the pattern for the archdiocese. He was particularly talented in two important roles of a bishop: raising money and recruiting priestly vocations. I lived in the DC archdiocese throughout McCarrick’s tenure, and I can confirm that, for all his significant faults, he was a genius at raising money and he did attract many priestly vocations (including many good men). It was these two talents, in fact, that made him one of the most influential men in the Church throughout his career, and that influence continues to permeate the Archdiocese of Washington, DC.

Of course, McCarrick was also a predatory monster.

After McCarrick came two archbishops who followed in his ideological footsteps: Donald Wuerl and Wilton Gregory. Both are members of the progressive wing of the hierarchy, although Wuerl—who covered up McCarrick’s crimes—often fooled people into thinking he was a moderate or even a conservative prelate. Cardinal McElroy is firmly in this camp as well and so continues the progressive leanings of this office. He vigorously opposes withholding the Eucharist from obstinate public defenders of abortion such as Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, and he has often promoted false LGBTQ+ ideology, refusing to condemn acts that have always been considered sinful by the Church. He will likely be a vocal opponent of incoming President Donald Trump (as vocal as he was silent about President Joe Biden’s embrace of abortion and “gay rights”).

But McElroy is far more connected to McCarrick than just ideological agreement. He is, in many ways, a perfect successor to Theodore McCarrick, someone he worked to protect. Richard Sipe, an expert on priestly sex abuse, warned McElroy about McCarrick’s proclivities in 2016, two years before they became widely known, and as far as we know, McElroy did nothing beyond a bureaucratic paper-filing in response. Further, McElroy voted against the USCCB petition pressing the Vatican for more transparency and speed in the McCarrick investigation. McElroy also failed to act in an egregious case of priestly sexual abuse in his own diocese. With this past, McElroy not only shouldn’t be elevated to Washington, DC; he should be removed as bishop altogether. Big Intel: How the CIA... Waller, J. Michael Best Price: $10.00 Buy New $15.79 (as of 09:31 UTC - Details)

Yet he is now the next archbishop of Washington, DC. While this is clearly considered a promotion by the Vatican, it diminishes DC more than it elevates McElroy. Catholic prelates have two types of authority: institutional authority and moral authority. It’s true that the holders of certain positions, such as the archbishops of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, enjoy certain privileges and are often called upon to speak for the Church. Institutional authority only goes so far, though; what is vastly more important is moral authority. Bishop Joseph Strickland, for example, is one of the most influential American prelates today, and he doesn’t even hold institutional office anymore. Most bishops, in fact, hold little moral authority due to their cowardice in opposing the evils of our age. Further, over time the diminished moral authority of a See’s occupants can in turn diminish the institutional authority of the office itself. And if there’s anywhere that’s happened, it’s Washington, DC, and McElroy’s appointment only accelerates that process.

In the end, Robert McElroy hasn’t been promoted as much as the Archdiocese of Washington, DC has been demoted. Pray for the good priests and people of that archdiocese that they may serve Our Lord faithfully in spite of the poor shepherd they have been given.

This originally appeared on Crisis Magazine.