Cardinal Donald Wuerl. (Photo by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston)

By WAMU’s Elly Yu and Carmel Delshad

The Archdiocese of Washington is confirming Cardinal Donald Wuerl will ask Pope Francis to accept his resignation as Archbishop of Washington during an upcoming meeting in Rome.

Calls for Wuerl to step down began mounting after a Pennsylvania grand jury report raised questions about how he handled clergy sexual abuse cases while he was the bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006.

Wuerl wrote in a Sept. 11 letter to priests that given the circumstances, it’s “clear that some decision, sooner rather than later, on my part is an essential aspect so that this archdiocesan Church we all love can move forward.”

In his letter, Wuerl acknowledged “the horror of the clergy abuse of children and the failures in episcopal oversight.”

The grand jury report found that more than 1,000 children were abused in six Pennsylvania dioceses since the 1940s. Wuerl was not accused of abuse himself, but of helping to protect some abusive priests. In some cases, the report details how Wuerl worked to remove priests accused of abusing children, but in other cases, reassigned or reinstated them.

Wuerl, 77, has served as archbishop of Washington since 2006. Canon law dictates that a bishop submits his resignation at the age of 75; Wuerl did so in 2015. It is now up to Pope Francis on when to accept it.

Victoria Walker also contributed to this story.

This story was originally published on WAMU.