Robert W. McElroy
Robert Walter McElroy was born on February 5, 1954, in San Francisco, and ordained a priest of that archdiocese on April 12, 1980. An unusually credentialed churchman, he holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford. Pope Benedict XVI named him an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco in July 2010, and Pope Francis sent him south as Bishop of San Diego in March 2015; he was installed that April.
In San Diego he became a leading voice of the Francis era in America, and in August 2022 Francis created him a cardinal, passing over archbishops of larger sees. His January 2023 essay in America, arguing for 'radical inclusion' of LGBT Catholics and calling the exclusion of the sexually active from Communion a pastoral rather than doctrinal question, drew sharp criticism from brother bishops; he had earlier opposed the bishops' conference's effort toward Eucharistic coherence on abortion. In January 2025 Francis named him Archbishop of Washington, and he was installed on March 11.
On the old Mass he belongs to the party of restriction and acted early. His August 2021 implementation letter in San Diego required any priest to have his permission before offering the older form, ended the Traditional Latin Mass at the territorial parishes, and left it standing at the Fraternity of St. Peter's personal parish. In Washington he governs under his predecessor Cardinal Gregory's 2022 decree, which remains in force.
- 2021-08Implementation letter: any priest wishing to offer the older-form Mass first had to seek his permission; the Traditional Latin Mass was ended at the territorial parishes of St. Mary's and St. Margaret's and their communities consolidated at a single North County location; the FSSP personal parish of St. Anne was exempt. ↗
Cardinal McElroy belongs to the party of the restriction, and acted early to enforce it. As Bishop of San Diego he met Traditionis Custodes in August 2021 with one of the first and firmest American implementations: any priest who wished to offer the old Mass had to seek his permission, and the Traditional Latin Mass was ended at the territorial parishes of St. Mary's and St. Margaret's, surviving only at the Fraternity of St. Peter's personal parish. The College of Cardinals' own profile of him notes that he fully subscribes to the motu proprio and to the reasons Pope Francis gave for it.
His broader cast of mind is well known and, on this site's standard, a matter of grave concern: a theology of 'radical inclusion' that treats the Church's settled moral teaching as a 'pastoral question, not a doctrinal one,' and a posture toward the Eucharist and Communion that troubles many faithful Catholics. We present these as his own stated views, in his own words; the reader may weigh them.
On the narrow question of this page — the Mass of Ages and the souls who cling to it — his record is clear enough. He has been an instrument of its restriction, not its defense. His policy in Washington remains to be written; on the evidence to date, the traditional Catholic should not look to him as a friend.