With the retirement of Bishop Robert Brom on Sept. 18, the San Diego Catholic community said "thank you" for his leadership through both joyful and difficult times, and welcomed Coadjutor Bishop Cirilo Flores as the fifth bishop of San Diego. Bishop Brom turned 75 on Sept. 18, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation. Pope Francis accepted it the same day, and Bishop Flores automatically succeeded him. Bishop Brom, who had headed the diocese since 1990, said in a statement his heart was "filled with gratitude" upon retiring and added that he was grateful to God for the "many blessings" he has received during over the years, "both in joyful and in challenging times." He said he also was grateful "to those with whom I have shared ministry — the bishops, priests and deacons, the men and women religious, and many very talented and generous lay faithful." Bishop Brom will be remembered most of all for his pastoral visits to parishes as diocesan bishop. He made visits five times to all of the approximately 100 parishes in the two-county, 8,852-square-mile diocese, serving nearly 1 million Catholics.Bishop Flores was a practicing lawyer before entering St. John's Seminary in Camarillo in 1986, and was ordained a priest in 1991. Named an auxiliary bishop by Pope Benedict XVI Jan. 5, 2009, he was named Coadjutor Bishop in January 2012.Born June 20, 1948, in Corona, which was then a part of the San Diego Diocese, he attended St. Edward School and Notre Dame High School in Riverside and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles before earning a law degree from Stanford University Law School. On the national level, he was a member of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Latin America and Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs. For the California Catholic Conference he has chaired the Committee on Religious Liberty and has been episcopal liaison for the Region Eleven Council of Priest Senates. {gallery width=100 height=100}gallery/2013/0927/sandiego1/{/gallery}
