Cardinal Robert McElroy

Photo: Diocese of San Diego

Archbishop of Washington, USA

Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of San Francisco, Diocese of San Diego, Archdiocese of Washington

McElroy ignored Richard Sipe’s 2016 letter informing him of allegations against McCarrick of abuse of priests and seminarians. After criminal charges were filed against a priest of the San Diego diocese for ritual rape of adult victim, Rachel Mastrogiacomo, McElroy refused to cooperate by sharing the priest’s records, even though the diocese had knowingly reassigned him after agreeing to pay the victim’s therapy costs in 2014. A lawsuit was filed against McElroy’s San Diego diocese in 2019 for fraudulently transferring 291 properties into real estate holding companies before filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying out clergy abuse victims. Victims’ attorneys in San Diego criticized Pope Francis’ appointment of McElroy as archbishop of Washington calling him “anything but progressive when it comes to protecting victims of child sexual assault in San Diego.” 

SNAP filed a complaint against McElroy under the pope’s 2023 decree Vos estis lux mundi on April 15, 2025

Vos estis lux mundi, Pope Francis’ 2023 decree, allows any bishop, cardinal, or religious superior to be reported and investigated for abuse or cover-up. These complaints, submitted to the Vatican, are not verdicts of guilt. They are evidence-based calls for investigation—each meeting the church’s own standard of “serious indications” that a violation occurred. In civil terms, this is equivalent to probable cause or reasonable grounds to investigate.

Every filing draws from a solid foundation of survivor and eyewitness testimony, public records and church statements, independent investigations by media and legal experts, official church documents and canonical proceedings, testimony, depositions, and court-ordered documents from criminal and civil cases.