Cardinal McElroy of Washington, D.C. urges shift away from political polarization

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 18:29 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., expressed concerns about increasing political polarization in the United States and urged Americans to remember “that which binds us together as a people.”

McElroy made the comments at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 17. He spoke with University President Rev. Robert Dowd in a conversation titled “Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life.” The event was part of the university’s 2025-26 Forum on the theme “Cultivating Hope.” McElroy holds doctorates in sacred theology and political science.

“The conflict between the two parties has done, I think, terrible damage to us,” McElroy said, and noted that a “notion of warfare, of tribalism has seeped into us” when discussing political disagreements.

A person’s political beliefs, the cardinal explained, “has become shorthand now for worldview in the views of many, many people,” which he warned “is a very damaging development in our society” because it moves Americans away from focusing on a “shared purpose and meaning” when crafting political solutions. 

The United States, McElroy said, is not bound by blood or ethnicity, but rather “bound together by the aspirations of our founders.”

‘What binds us’

“What binds us is the aspirations of freedom, human dignity, care for all, the rights of all, the empowerment of all, democratic rights,” he said. “…We’re proud to be Americans because of what our country aspires to be and to do.”

McElroy said “much of this needs to take place at the parish level” to facilitate dialogue among those who disagree with each other, and argued that the founders “believed on a very deep level [that the country] could only succeed if religion flourished.”

“They believed that only religion could genuinely bring from the human heart a sense of the willingness to look past self-interest or group interest to a wider sense of what the common good is,” McElroy said.

“So for that reason, they thought religion was essential, not as a direct force in politics, certainly, or governance, but rather in contributing in the human heart and in the understanding of the issues that come forth,” he added.

Although McElroy said the Church does not have a specific political role, he said it does have “a moral role within the political and public order,” which “needs to be rooted in the moral understanding.” If a political question has a moral component, the cardinal said “the Church contributes to the public debate.”

“It speaks not in terms of the politics — or it should not speak in terms of the politics — but rather solely the moral questions involved,” McElroy said.

McElroy was appointed in January of this year by Pope Francis to serve as the archbishop of the nation’s capital and assumed the position on March 11. He succeeded Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who retired.

In his installation Mass, McElroy emphasized the importance of respecting the human dignity of all people, particularly the unborn, migrants, and the poor.