Pope Francis named Robert McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, as one of his ideological allies, who has often fought with more conservative U.S. bishops.
According to the San Diego Diocese, McElroy will receive his installation by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on August 27, according to the diocese.
McElroy (68) was one of his most notable stances. He has been among a few U.S. bishops who harshly criticized the campaign to exclude Catholic politicians from Communion who support abortion rights.
McElroy, May 2021 wrote that “it will bring tremendously devastating consequences.” “The Eucharist has been weaponized and used as a tool for political warfare. This cannot happen.”
Francis chose McElroy over Salvatore Cordileone, the San Francisco archbishop. Cordileone stated earlier this month that he would not allow Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House Speaker, to receive Communion due to her support for abortion rights.
McElroy stated in a statement that he was shocked and deeply surprised by the news of McElroy’s appointment.
He said, “My prayer is that I might be of additional assistance to the God who graced me on so much levels in my life.” “I pray that I may be able to assist the Holy Father in his pastoral renewal for the Church.”
Cordileone made a brief statement congratulating McElroy on his appointment and noting McElroy’s native San Franciscan heritage. The two clerics were not mentioned in the statement.
Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has also expressed congratulations, adding that McElroy “will serve well the global Church.”
Gomez stated in writing that Pope Francis had named Bishop Robert McElroy a cardinal to show his pastoral care for America’s Church.
McElroy earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1975, and a masters from Stanford in 1976.
He attended St. Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park, California. In 1985, he received a Jesuit School of Theology theology degree in Berkeley. He received a doctorate from the Gregorian University of Rome in moral theology the next year, and a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford in 1989.
In 1980, he was ordained as a priest and assigned to the San Francisco diocesan. He served as a priest before becoming Archbishop John Quinn’s personal secretary. Redwood City, San Mateo and other California parish assignments were also his.
In 2010, he was made an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco. He was ordained bishop of San Diego in 2015, shortly after Francis’ pontificate.
McElroy was one of the few U.S. bishops to question why the bishops’ conference insists on abortion being its “preeminent priority” in recent years. McElroy has also questioned the reasons why issues like racism, poverty and climate change were not given greater attention.
In a 2020 speech, he stated that while abortion has a greater immediate impact on the lives of women, the long-term effects of climate change are more severe and pose a threat to the future of humanity.
