Washington’s new archbishop wasted no time addressing the divisions that exist in his new archdiocese as well as the church’s past sins in dealing with sexual abuse of minors.

During his homily at his March 11 installation Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Cardinal Robert McElroy spoke about some of the tensions that often begin in Washington’s institutions and radiate to the rest of the country and stressed instead that God wishes dignity and hope for humanity.

“How deeply that contrasts with the world that we have made,” he said. “Divisions of race, gender, ideology and nationality, flourish in the world of politics, religion, family life and education. The poor and the migrant are daily dispossessed, and the dignity of the unborn is denied.”