This morning, Pope Francis named Bishop Robert McElroy, Auxiliary of San Francisco, to be the new Bishop of San Diego, which is one of the six dioceses that make up the Ecclesiastical Province of Los Angeles.

 On behalf of all the faithful here in the Province and in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, we welcome Bishop McElroy to Southern California.

 Bishop McElroy is a brother and a friend and I appreciate his leadership on issues of poverty and social justice, religious liberty, immigration reform, and Catholic values in health care. I look forward to working with him to advance the Church’s continental mission of the new evangelization here in Southern California.

 So we rejoice today with our brothers and sisters in San Diego and we pray for Bishop McElroy, entrusting him and all the faithful in San Diego to the tender care of Our Lady of Guadalupe.