Michael Pham Appointed Next Bishop of San Diego

Pope Leo XIV taps auxiliary bishop as next leader of the Catholic Diocese of San Diego

Most Reverend Michael M. Pham, auxiliary bishop of San Diego and diocesan administrator, was appointed the next bishop of San Diego, the Vatican announced Thursday. 

Pham, 58, succeeds Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, who in January was appointed by the late Pope Francis to lead the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. The Vietnamese-born Pham was appointed the diocese’s temporary administrator after McElroy was installed as bishop of the nation’s capital. McElroy led the archdiocese for ten years. 

This was Pope Leo XIV's first U.S. appointment since being named the pope on May 8. 

San Diego Bishop Michael Pham, right, takes a picture with Bishop Felipe Pulido, left, and Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) in Rome. 

Pham was ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 1999. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Diego on June 6, 2023. 

Pham fled Vietnam as a 13-year-old refugee in 1980, accompanied by his older sister and a younger brother. The siblings spent time at a refugee camp in Malaysia before being sponsored by an American family in 1981 and relocating to Blue Earth, Minnesota. Once the remainder of his family arrived in the United States, they moved to San Diego in 1985. 

He graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor’s and started a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering before transferring to St. Francis Seminary at the University of San Diego (USD). Pham completed his seminary training at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park with Systematic Theology Baccalaureate and Master of Divinity degrees.

Bishop Pham has served as associate pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish in Oceanside; diocesan vocations director; and pastor of Holy Family, St. Therese and Good Shepherd Parishes. 

On March 17, 2025, the diocese’s College of Consultors elected him to serve as diocesan administrator until the Pope appoints its next bishop. Pham will now lead the diocese that includes more than 1.38 million Catholics, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

— USD News Center