WASHINGTON (CNS) -- San Francisco Auxiliary Bishop Robert W. McElroy has been named to head the Diocese of San Diego by Pope Francis.

The appointment was publicized March 3 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop McElroy, 61, is a native of San Francisco who has spent most of his life in the Bay Area. He has been an auxiliary bishop since 2010.

He succeeds the late Bishop Cirilo B. Flores who died Sept. 6, 2014.