Cardinal Robert McElroy will undergo surgery next week to remove a nonaggressive cancer targeting his body’s fat cells, the Archdiocese of Washington announced.
The 71-year-old leader of over 667,000 Catholics in the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland shared this week that he was diagnosed with well-differentiated liposarcoma, which typically begins in the arms, legs or belly.
The archdiocese said in a statement on Wednesday that the cancer, which is fatal only in rare cases, “tends not to metastasize” and is unlikely to threaten the cardinal’s life.
“For these reasons, the Cardinal’s doctors are in consensus that his prognosis is very good,” the archdiocese said.
The Washington Times reached out to the Archdiocese of Washington Pastoral Center in Hyattsville, Maryland, for comment.
The surgery scheduled for Thursday will prevent the cardinal from attending an annual fall meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It runs in Baltimore from Nov. 10-13.
“I am at peace with this challenge and hope and believe that in God’s grace I will be Archbishop of Washington for many years to come,” Cardinal McElroy told local priests at a Tuesday gathering, according to the statement. “I ask your prayers and support in these days and plan to resume full duties two weeks after the surgery.”
Cardinal McElroy became the eighth archbishop of Washington on March 11, two months after Pope Francis named him to the post.
He succeeded the retiring Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who became archbishop in 2019.
Cardinal McElroy, who previously served as bishop of San Diego starting in 2015, implemented sweeping budget cuts shortly after taking over the D.C. archdiocese’s 140 parishes and missions.
In a June 5 letter, he announced plans to lay off 30 of the Hyattsville office’s 120 employees and restructure operations to close a persistent $10 million annual budget shortfall that he deemed “no longer sustainable.”
A longtime advocate for liberalizing the Catholic Church, he has condemned the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
“We are witnessing a comprehensive governmental assault designed to produce fear and terror,” Cardinal McElroy said in a Sept. 28 homily at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington. “It embraces as collateral damage, horrific, emotional suffering.”
The archdiocese did not provide further details about the cardinal’s upcoming surgery.
Liposarcoma afflicts roughly 1 in 100,000 people in the U.S. annually, with men ages 50 to 65 making up most cases. Symptoms include pain, swelling, weakness, constipation and bloody stool.
“Liposarcoma happens most often in older adults, but it can happen at any age,” according to a statement on the Mayo Clinic’s website.
