John Wright (Catholic bishop)

His Eminence John Joseph Wright
Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
See	Pittsburgh (emeritus)
Installed	April 23, 1969
Term ended	August 10, 1979
Predecessor	Jean-Marie Villot
Successor	Silvio Oddi
Other posts	Bishop of Pittsburgh (1959-69) Bishop of Worcester (1950-59)
Orders
Ordination	December 8, 1935
Consecration	May 10, 1947
Created Cardinal	April 28, 1969
Personal details
Born	(1909-07-18)July 18, 1909 Dorchester, Massachusetts
Died	August 10, 1979(1979-08-10) (aged 70) Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coat of arms

John Joseph Wright (July 18, 1909 – August 10, 1979) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1969 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969.

John Joseph Wright was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, to John and Harriet (née Cokely) Wright. While attending Boston Latin School, he worked at the Hyde Park branch of the Boston Public Library as stack boy in the evenings and summers. Wright graduated from Boston College in 1931, and then entered St. John's Seminary in Brighton. At the end of his first year at St. John's, he was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani on December 8, 1935 in the chapel of the North American College.

After his ordination he did graduate work at the Gregorian, earning his Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 1936 and his Doctorate of Sacred Theology in 1939. Wright taught philosophy and theology at his alma mater of St. John's Seminary until 1943, when he was appointed private secretary to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston, William Henry O'Connell. Wright continued in this position under O'Connell's successor, Cardinal Richard Cushing, and was raised to the rank of Monsignor on December 17, 1944.