Robert Walter McElroy (born February 5, 1954) is an American Catholic prelate serving as Archbishop of Washington since 2025. He previously served as Bishop of San Diego from 2015 to 2025. He was made a cardinal in 2022.
McElroy was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1980. He later received advanced theological degrees from Santa Clara University and the Pontifical Gregorian University and has written articles for the Jesuit magazine America. McElroy was widely regarded as a supporter of the policies of Pope Francis.
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Early life and education
Robert Walter McElroy was born into a Catholic family in San Francisco, California, on February 5, 1954. One of five children, he was born to Walter and Roberta McElroy. He grew up in San Mateo County. McElroy was educated at St. Joseph's High School Seminary, run by the Sulpician Fathers, and after graduating he entered Harvard University in 1972 to pursue education outside of the seminary system.
McElroy earned a B.A. in history from Harvard University in 1975 and an M.A. in American history from Stanford University in 1976. He returned to the seminary in fall 1976 and in 1979 graduated from St. Patrick's Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. On April 12, 1980, McElroy was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop John Raphael Quinn at St. Mary's Cathedral for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
After ordination, McElroy pursued further advanced studies. In 1985, he obtained a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL) from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University with a thesis entitled Freedom for Faith: John Courtney Murray and the Constitutional Question, 1942–1954. In 1986, he obtained a Doctor of Sacred Theology (STD) degree in moral theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University with a dissertation entitled John Courtney Murray and the Secular Crisis: Foundations for an American Catholic Public Theology. McElroy also received a Doctor of Political Science degree from Stanford in 1989 with a dissertation entitled Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Moral Norms in International Affairs.
McElroy taught ethics at Saint Patrick's Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California, and was guest professor of social ethics at the University of San Francisco in the Fall of 2008.
Priesthood
Once ordained in 1980, McElroy was assigned to a pastoral position in St. Cecilia Parish in San Francisco, California. From 1982 to 1985, McElroy served as secretary to Archbishop John Quinn. In 1983, McElroy was one of three priests who drafted a report for the archdiocesan Priests' Senate entitled "Ministry and Sexuality in the Archdiocese of San Francisco" that stated that "the homosexual orientation is not held to be a sinful condition" but called homosexual persons to "[live] out the demands of chastity within that orientation," endorsing a gradualist approach that "assists the person toward a progressive assimilation of the church's ethical values."
In a 1989 PBS segment on the AIDS epidemic, McElroy expressed opposition to LGBT relationships. He criticized San Francisco's recognition of LGBT couples as domestic partnerships, arguing that it destabilized traditional family structures. He stated, "It undermines the stability of the family. It is society saying 'we don't care whether you live together, or whether you are married and raise a family within the context of marriage.'"
From 1989 to 1995, he was parochial vicar at Saint Pius Church in Redwood City, California. In 1995, Archbishop Quinn appointed McElroy to be vicar general of the archdiocese, an office he held under Archbishop Quinn and Cardinal William Levada until 1997. In 1996, McElroy was made an honorary prelate by Pope John Paul II. From 1997 to 2010, McElroy served as the pastor of St. Gregory Church in San Mateo, California.
In 2005, McElroy published an essay on the denial of the Eucharist to public officials because of their political positions. He criticized those who adopt what he called the "sanctions position" for a lack of "pastoral solicitude", noted the expansion of grounds for sanctions from abortion to euthanasia and other issues by one diocese or another, questioned the lack of clarity as to what behavior triggers sanctions, and cited the occasions when John Paul II distributed the Eucharist to political leaders who favored legalized abortion. He proposed that the church's traditional "theology of scandal" should be invoked rather than employing Eucharistic practice as a means of discipline. He warned that imposing sanctions on individuals harms the church by appearing coercive, strengthens the argument of abortion advocates that the church is attempting to impose its religious beliefs on society at large, downplays the breadth of the church's social agenda, and tends to "cast the church as a partisan actor in the American political system."
Episcopacy
Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco
On July 6, 2010, McElroy was appointed an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and titular bishop of Gemellae in Byzacena by Pope Benedict XVI. On September 7, 2010, McElroy received his episcopal consecration from Archbishop George Niederauer, with Archbishop Emeritus Quinn and Bishop John Wester serving as co-consecrators. As auxiliary bishop, McElroy was the archdiocesan vicar for parish life and development.
Writing in the Jesuit monthly magazine America in 2014, McElroy argued that the emphasis of Pope Francis on inequality in Catholic social teaching:
did not go over well with many American Catholics, who criticized his statement for being radical, simplistic, and confusing. This rebuff stands in stark and telling contrast to the otherwise enthusiastic reception the new pope has met with in the United States. From the moment of his election, Pope Francis has captured the attention of the American people with his message and manner, even as he has challenged us all to deep renewal and reform in our lives. Americans take heart in the pope's call to build an ecclesiastical culture that casts off judgmentalism; they applaud structural reforms at the Vatican; and they admire Francis's continuing focus on the pastoral needs of ordinary men and women.
Bishop of San Diego
On March 3, 2015, McElroy was appointed the sixth Bishop of San Diego by Francis, succeeding the late Bishop Cirilo Flores. The diocese serves about one million Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties. His installation took place on April 15, 2015, at St. Therese of Carmel Catholic Church.
McElroy is widely regarded as a supporter of the progressive policies of Francis. He has written frequently and extensively on social inequality and the Church's social justice mission. In his first public appearance in San Diego, he pledged to champion the cause of the homeless, to support comprehensive immigration reform, and to ban anyone who has abused minors from serving in the clergy or other employment in the diocese.
Balancing the need for just compensation for victims of sexual abuse and the need to continue the Church’s mission of education, pastoral service and outreach to the poor and the marginalized, it was determined under McElroy's leadership that Chapter 11 reorganization—bankruptcy for the second time—would be the best way forward for the Diocese in 2024.
In a discussion over the formation of the 2015 document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), McElroy argued that the document focused excessively on abortion and euthanasia. He said that "alongside the issues of abortion and euthanasia, which are central issues in our effort to transform this world, poverty and the degradation of the earth are also central. But this document keeps to the structure of the world view of 2007. It tilts in favor of abortion and euthanasia and excludes poverty and the environment." He called for the document to be scrapped entirely. His comments were reported to have visibly irritated Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who was then serving as vice president of the USCCB and who later became its president. In a speech delivered on February 17, 2016, McElroy called on Catholics "to recognize and confront the ugly tide of anti-Islamic bigotry" in the United States. He denounced as "repeated falsehoods" claims that Islam is a violent religion and compared these allegations to 19th century anti-Catholicism in America.
McElroy is currently the vice-president of the California Catholic Conference and serves at the USCCB on the administrative committee, the ecumenical committee, the committee on domestic justice and the committee on international affairs. In 2017 he preached at the vigil the night before the funeral Mass of Archbishop Quinn.
Position on LGBT issues
In America, McElroy called for a change in sacramental discipline related to the reception of communion by sexually active LGBT people. He emphasized "the privileged place" of conscience and that sexual activity does not lie at the heart of the hierarchy of truths. He also said: "The distinction between orientation and activity cannot be the principal focus for such a pastoral embrace because it inevitably suggests dividing the L.G.B.T. community into those who refrain from sexual activity and those who do not."
In a February 2024 speech, McElroy said that much of the opposition to Fiducia Supplicans was based on "enduring animus" against gays and lesbians. He said further that Fiducia Supplicans was part of a "move toward decentralization" in the Catholic Church. He added "We have witnessed the reality that bishops of various parts of the world have made rapidly divergent decisions about the acceptability of such blessings in their countries".
Archbishop of Washington (DC)
On January 6, 2025, Pope Francis appointed McElroy to succeed Wilton Gregory as Archbishop of Washington, DC. He was installed March 11, 2025.
McElroy participated in the 2025 papal conclave as one of the cardinal electors that elected Pope Leo XIV.
Publications
McElroy published two books as a priest, related to his dissertations at the Pontifical Gregorian University and Stanford.
The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray (Paulist Press, 1989)
Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Ethics in International Affairs (Princeton University Press, 1992)
He has also written four articles for America magazine.