Robert W. McElroy received his undergraduate education at Harvard, and a master’s degree in American history from Stanford in 1976. He was ordained a priest in 1980. In 1985, he pursued studies in the field of Catholic social teaching. Bishop McElroy received a doctorate in moral theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and a doctorate in political science from Stanford in 1989. He served the Archdiocese of San Francisco as vicar general and as a pastor, and in 2010 Pope Benedict appointed him auxiliary bishop of San Francisco. In 2015, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of San Diego. Bishop McElroy currently serves the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the committees on domestic justice, international justice, ecumenism, Africa, and Latin America.