Barry C. Knestout

On February 13, 2019 Knestout and Michael F. Burbidge, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington, released a list of clergy that had credibly been accused of sexual abuse in their dioceses between 1974 and 2019.

In early 2019 Knestout gave permission to the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia to ordain Susan B. Haynes as the new bishop at St. Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia does not have a cathedral and usually rotates where it hosts ordinations and other events. However the announcement was met with opposition by many Catholics who objected to holding a non-Catholic worship service and women's bishop ordination in a Catholic church. Over 3,000 people signed an internet petition objecting to the event. On 17 January the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia announced it would no longer hold Haynes' ordination at St. Bede.

In 2019, Knestout instructed Fr. Mark White to silence his blog, under pain of removal from the priesthood. White had criticized the church hierarchy's handling of the child sexual abuse crisis, including disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, for whom Knestout had served as priest secretary, and Donald Wuerl, with whom he had worked as auxiliary bishop. In May 2020 Knestout removed White from his parish and tried to have him expelled from the parish residence.

On December 5, 2017, Knestout was appointed the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Richmond by Pope Francis. He was installed as Bishop of Richmond on January 12, 2018, at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

Knestout co-chaired the Papal Visit Planning Committee in 2008, overseeing many of the preparations for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States in April of that year. He also oversaw a contest for architecture students from the Catholic University of America to design the altar and chair used by Benedict XVI at the Mass at the Washington Nationals baseball stadium. He was later awarded a Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice for his work. In his work planning the papal visit, Knestout collaborated with his brother, Mark, who was serving as the director of the Archdiocese of Washington's Office of Worship at the time. His brother currently serves as pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda.

On November 18, 2008, Knestout was appointed titular Bishop of Leavenworth and an auxiliary bishop for Washington by Pope Benedict XVI. He was consecrated on December 29 by Archbishop Donald Wuerl, with Bishops Francisco González Valer, S.F., and Martin Holley serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

Knestout was born in Cheverly, Maryland, to Thomas (died 1997) and Caroline Knestout. His father was a deacon who served as a cryptologist for the National Security Agency and as the director of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of Washington. One of nine children, he has five brothers and three sisters. A younger brother, Mark, is also a priest, incardinated in the Archdiocese of Washington.

Knestout was ordained to the priesthood by James Cardinal Hickey on June 24, 1989. He then served as associate pastor at St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda until 1993 and at St. Peter Parish in Waldorf from 1993 to 1994. Knestout was named priest-secretary to Cardinal Hickey in 1994, and remained in that position until Hickey's death in 2004; he also served in the same capacity to Theodore Cardinal McCarrick from 2003 to 2004. He was raised to the rank of monsignor in 1999, and was executive director of the archdiocesan office of youth ministry from 2001 to 2003. Knestout became pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Silver Spring in 2004, and archdiocesan secretary for pastoral life and social concerns in 2006. In April 2007, he was named vicar general and moderator of the curia of the archdiocese.

As a child, Knestout lived with his family in Ankara, Turkey, for four years before returning to the United States, where he attended St. Pius X School in Bowie (Prince George County, Maryland) and Bowie Senior High School. He then studied at the University of Maryland, from where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in architecture in 1984. In 1985, he entered Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, earning a Master's in Divinity (1988) and a Master of Arts in moral theology (1989).

Barry Christopher Knestout (born June 11, 1962) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Knestout serves as the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Richmond. Previously, he served as the priest secretary for James Cardinal Hickey and Theodore McCarrick and then as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, assisting Donald Wuerl.