Cardinal McElroy appointed eighth Archbishop of Washington

Cardinal Robert McElroy

Source: Archdiocese of Washington DC, X, ICN

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy, currently Bishop of San Diego, as the eighth Archbishop of Washington today, 6 January 2025. McElroy, 70, succeeds Cardinal Wilton Gregory, America's first black cardinal, who at 77 is two years above the normal retirement age for bishops.

The appointment comes just as Washington prepares for the arrival of President Trump on 20 January. Trump made immigration a key theme of his campaign. Having led the diocese of San Diego, on the border with Mexico, since 2015, the Cardinal has much experience with immigration, both as a political issue and a reality in his diocesan churches.

At a press conference today, following the announcement, Cardinal McElroy said that the incoming President Trump's immigration policy, promising "wider, indiscriminate, massive deportation across the country, would be something that would be incompatible with Catholic doctrine."

Welcoming the appointment, Fr James Martin SJ, said on X: "In appointing Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new archbishop of Washington, the Holy Father has just selected one of the brightest and most capable clerics in the entire US church. With doctorates in both theology and political science, and experience as Bishop of San Diego, Cardinal McElroy is both smart and pastoral. He is a gift to both Washington and to the nation, and a worthy successor to Cardinal Gregory."

Robert Cardinal McElroy was born in San Francisco on February 5, 1954, to Walter and Roberta McElroy. A fifth generation San Franciscan, Cardinal McElroy lived until he was ten years old in Daly City, attending Our Lady of Mercy Elementary School. His family then moved to Burlingame, where he and his three sisters and brother attended and graduated from Our Lady of Angels School.

During his youth, Cardinal McElroy felt called to the Catholic priesthood. Subsequently, after eighth grade, he entered St Joseph High School in Mountain View, which was the high school seminary of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Upon graduating, Cardinal McElroy was still committed to seeking a life in the priesthood but concluded that it would be best to pursue his vocation in a college outside the seminary system. Therefore, in 1972, he entered Harvard College and graduated three years later with a bachelor's degree in American history. Cardinal McElroy attended graduate school at Stanford University and in 1976, received a master's degree in American history and in 1989 a doctorate in Political Science.

In 1979, he was granted a master's degree in Divinity (M.Div.) at St Patrick Seminary, and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley in 1985. He went on to earn a doctorate in Moral Theology (STD) from The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1987.

Reentering the seminary in the fall of 1976, Cardinal McElroy attended St Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco on April 12, 1980. His first assignment was St Cecilia's in San Francisco, which was the parish where both his parents had grown up, attended grammar school, and were later married.

Parish work has always been his first love. In 1989, Cardinal McElroy served as parochial vicar at St Pius Parish in Redwood City.

In 1995, Archbishop Quinn appointed then-Father McElroy vicar general of the Archdiocese, a post he continued to hold under Cardinal William Levada, who succeeded Archbishop Quinn.

The following year, then-Father McElroy was made a prelate of honour by St John Paul II and appointed pastor of St Gregory parish in San Mateo by Cardinal Levada. He had the immense happiness of serving in this same parish for more than 15 years.

Then-Bishop McElroy was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Francisco by Pope Benedict XVI on July 6, 2010, and was ordained by Archbishop George Niederauer at St Mary's Cathedral on September 7, 2010. He became the Archdiocesan Vicar for Parish Life and Development and served in that role until his appointment to be the sixth bishop of San Diego in March 2015.

Pope Francis appointed then-Bishop McElroy to the College of Cardinals on May 29, 2022. He was installed in a Consistory on August 27 at St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Cardinal McElroy is a member of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

Papal biographer Austen Ivereigh has written on X today: "Wonderful news. Cardinal McElroy has a brilliant mind, a pastor's heart, and a prophetic gut. A perfect appointment in the Trump era: the Gospel sine glossa to counteract the perversion of Christian nationalism."