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.
McElroy, like most members of the Church hierarchy, including Pope Francis and the USCCB, opposed plans by U.S. President Donald Trump to build a wall along the Mexico–United States border to limit illegal immigration. In March 2018, Trump visited California to view prototypes for the wall. After the visit, McElroy said, "It is a sad day for our country when we trade the majestic, hope-filled symbolism of the Statue of Liberty for an ineffective and grotesque wall, which both displays and inflames the ethnic and cultural divisions that have long been the underside of our national history."At a 2018 meeting, McElroy was asked by several lay Catholics about an openly gay man, Aaron Bianco, who was working at St. John the Evangelist Parish. In response to one of their questions, McElroy said, "If the Church eliminated all the employees who are not living out the teachings of the Church in its fullness, we would be employing only angels."
In 2020, three weeks prior to the US presidential election, McElroy criticized those questioning Biden's personal Catholic faith based on his positions on abortion, characterizing "the public denial of candidates' identity as Catholics because of a specific policy position they have taken" as "an assault on the meaning of what it is to be Catholic." McElroy said that although acts of abortion are intrinsically evil, legislation about it is a matter of prudential judgement, though he noted that the commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions that occur "has been eviscerated in the Democratic Party in a capitulation to notions of privacy that simply block out the human identity and rights of unborn children." McElroy stated that Catholic identity does not stand or fall on a single policy position. Catholic social teaching and identity encompasses such things as solidarity, compassion, love for the church, and "having a grace-filled relationship with God".
On May 29, 2022, Francis announced his intention to make McElroy a cardinal. On August 27, 2022, Pope Francis made him a Cardinal-Priest of San Frumenzio ai Prati Fiscali.
In September 2024, McElroy issued a policy that banned homeschool co-op groups from using parochial facilities within the diocese, claiming that it "undermined the stability of nearby Catholic schools and lead people to think that the Church is approving and advancing particular alternative schools and programs.” Some criticised this decision, due to it allowing parishes to rent space to non-Catholic schools on a "case-by-case basis".
On Sunday morning, February 9, 2025, McElroy led a protest against Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies. The predominantly Latino congregation marched downtown, ending with an afternoon vigil at St. Joseph Cathedral where every pew was filled.
In 2016, McElroy had two meetings with psychotherapist and clerical sex abuse expert Richard Sipe, during which Sipe made allegations about current and former bishops. McElroy had asked Sipe for any corroborating material to substantiate his allegations. McElroy later stated, "I asked if he could share this information with me, especially since some of his accusations involved persons still active in the life of the Church. Dr. Sipe said that he was precluded from sharing specific documentary information that corroborated his claims." Subsequently, Sipe had a letter discussing alleged sexual misconduct by retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and other clerics, disguised as a major donation, hand-delivered to McElroy's office by a process server. In addition to delivering the letter to McElroy, Sipe published the letter publicly on his website.
A wide variety of allegations of sexual assault against adults and minors against McCarrick became public knowledge in June 2018 after an allegation of sex abuse of a minor was deemed credible by the Vatican. Subsequently, McElroy released a statement in which he acknowledged meeting with Sipe and receiving his letter, but stated that "After I read [the letter], I wrote to Dr. Sipe and told him that his decision to engage a process server who operated under false pretenses, and his decision to copy his letter to me to a wide audience, made further conversations at a level of trust impossible." McElroy further stated that: "Dr. Sipe made many significant contributions to understanding the dimensions of clergy sexual abuse in the United States and to the assistance of victims. But the limitations on his willingness to share corroborating information made it impossible to know what was real and what was rumor."A 2018 article in America reported that "[McElroy] said that the material he received from Mr. Sipe was passed on to the proper governing bodies in Rome."
