Serving as San Diego's shepherd 'has been a great grace,' says Cardinal McElroy

SAN DIEGO (OSV News) -- "It has been a great grace for me being here, and part of my heart will always be here in San Diego," Cardinal Robert W. McElroy said during a final press conference in the chapel of the diocesan Pastoral Center.

For about 30 minutes Feb. 27, the cardinal stood at a podium flanked by news cameras. He delivered brief remarks and then fielded questions about Pope Francis' recent health challenges, as well as his own role in the Archdiocese of Washington, where he is to be installed on March 11.

Cardinal McElroy said that many people, both inside and outside of government, had reached out to him in recent days with inquiries about Pope Francis' health.

"The pope has a great deal of resonance with people in the Catholic community and outside the Catholic community," he said, "because of the message he brings to the world."

"There's a lot of good will toward him and a lot of desire that his witness and his ministry continue for some years into the future," he said.

Cardinal McElroy said that, over the past decade, he has had "many meetings" with Pope Francis, who appointed him as bishop of San Diego in 2015 and elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 2022. He revealed that the pope frequently asks him about one particular topic.

"He always asks about the border. … Every time I see him, he says, ‘How is the border? How is the situation with the migrants?'"

Drawing from his own firsthand experience with the pope, Cardinal McElroy described Pope Francis as "a very strong-willed man."

"He has a vision of where Christ is calling the church to go, and he wants to lead in that vision. … And my guess is that's partly why he's fighting through his illness, is because he still has things to do and he's hoping God gives him the opportunity to do that."

As of March 3 Pope Francis' condition remained stable, according to the Vatican. He was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital Feb. 14 for treatment for double pneumonia.

The cardinal said that the pope is also "a man of joy" and "a man of deep prayer," who works tirelessly and has a great sense of humor.

Asked if he planned to meet with President Donald Trump, Cardinal McElroy said that he did not -- at least not "in the short run."

"I'm going to Washington as the archbishop of Washington, which is a pastoral role. … My role is the leadership of the Catholic community in Washington," he said, explaining that political engagement falls more under the purview of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also headquartered in Washington, than the Washington Archdiocese itself.

He said that the church's role was not to solve political or policy problems. Instead, he said, the church has "a moral role, to comment on policies and on directions in society in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Catholic teaching."

He said that this is a moment when society has to grapple with questions such as, "What does it mean in our society to be a compassionate society? What does it mean to really say that we believe in the equal dignity of every human person, and how do we live that out?"

He said that those are the areas of witness the church is called to raise during the ongoing discussions.

"We're at a turning-point moment in the history of our country," he said. "So the church desires to make sure that in those discussions, in that formation of policy and direction, the witness of the Gospel is present."

Reflecting on his time as bishop of San Diego, Cardinal McElroy said that it has been "a tremendous, joyous 10 years."

He said that people have remarked that it must be hard for him to leave San Diego, given the seasonable Southern California weather. He acknowledged that leaving is hard, though "not principally because of the weather," but because of the "vibrancy (and) diversity" that he has encountered here.

Cardinal McElroy cited the three diocesan synods -- on marriage and family in 2016, on youth and young adults in 2019, and on the concept of synodality itself, beginning in 2021 -- as being among the high points of his tenure in San Diego.

Among his regrets, he said, was that the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the implementation of the young adult synod's proposals. He said that, in pastoral terms, young adult outreach is "the greatest challenge we have in the life of the church now."

Cardinal McElroy described the pandemic as "such a wrenching, difficult time for people in the whole of the society."

However, he said, "Some of the best elements of people's heroism, and hopefulness, and sacrifice came out during that period of time," including within the church.

At a time when all churches were closed for public worship, he said, local priests worked hard to reach out and be present to their people, and Catholic Charities orchestrated emergency food distribution.

"Even though it was a moment of tremendous suffering," the cardinal said of the pandemic, "it was a moment when we saw people so often at their best, reaching out, not concerned about themselves so much as for other people … I found great grace there."