During the 18th century, all of California was a Spanish colony, part of the province of Las Californias in the Spanish Viceroyalty of New Spain. The first Catholic churches in what became the Diocese of San Diego were two Spanish California missions:
In 1804, the Spanish split Las Californias into two provinces:
Alta California (Upper California) This included the modern American states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, along with western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming.
After the Mexican War of Independence ended in 1821, Spain ceded Alta California and Baja California to the new nation of Mexico. The Mexican Government in 1835 secularized all the Catholic missions in its territories, including the Mission San Luis Rey and Mission San Diego. The vast landholdings of the missions were confiscated and a clergy exodus took place.
In 1848, Mexico ceded Alta California to the United States at the close of the Mexican–American War. The government of Mexico then complained to the Vatican about San Diego, now an American city, having jurisdiction over the Mexican parishes in Baja California. In response, the Vatican in 1849 divided the Diocese of California:
Baja California became a Mexican jurisdiction
Alta California became the Diocese of Monterey. The Vatican moved the see city from San Diego to Monterey because it was move centrally located. The Royal Presidio Chapel in Monterey became the cathedral of the new American diocese.
In 1859, Pius IX renamed the Diocese of Monterey as the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles to recognize the growth of Los Angeles; the see was transferred to Los Angeles in 1876. Mary, Star of the Sea was the first parish in La Jolla, established in 1909
St. Mary's Church, considered the first in the Imperial Valley, was established in 1907 in El Centro. The first Catholic church in Chula Vista, St. Rose of Lima, was erected in 1921.In 1922, the Vatican divided the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, with the southern portion becoming the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego.
The Sisters of Nazareth in 1924 opened the Orphanage in Mission Valley. Today it is the Nazareth School.
1936 to 1969
The Diocese of San Diego was erected on July 11, 1936, by Pope Pius XI, taking San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties from the new Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The pope named Charles F. Buddy as the first bishop of San Diego. The first Catholic church in Carlsbad, St. Patrick's, was dedicated in 1943.
After Buddy died in 1966, Furey automatically succeed him as bishop of San Diego. Three years later, in 1969, Furey became archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. To replace Furey in San Diego, Paul VI that same year appointed Bishop Leo Maher from the Diocese of Santa Rosa.
1969 to 1990
Misión San Luis Rey de Francia, Oceanside, California (2022)
At the time of Maher's arrival, the diocese was about $15 million in debt, which Maher fully retired by 1980. He presided over the second diocesan synod from 1973 to 1976, revising the statutes and guidelines of the diocese to implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s. Priest Edward Rodrigue was removed from the ministry and sent to 11 months of treatment at a center after he pleaded no contest in 1979 to sexually abusing an 11-year-old developmentally disabled minor in Highland. He was laicized in 1992. After admitting to sexually abusing dozens of minors during his priesthood, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1998. By the end of 2004, 15 men had sued the diocese, claiming Rodrigue had abused them. In 1976, Maher created the first diocesan pastoral council. He ended the official relationship between the diocese and the University of San Diego, establishing the school as a separate corporation.
Maher was a strong supporter of the ecumenical movement, co-founding the San Diego County Ecumenical Conference and issuing joint statements on morality with non-Catholic religious leaders. He also supported workers' rights to organize into unions, but pledged an official neutrality in a farm labor dispute in 1971. That same year, he suspended Victor Salandini, a San Diego priest and ally of labor organizer César Chávez, for wearing a serape with the black eagle symbol of the United Farm Workers instead of proper vestments and for using corntortillas instead of sacramental bread during Masses. In 1975, Maher prohibited Catholics who are members of abortion legalization advocacy organizations from receiving communion or serving as lectors, specifically citing the National Organization for Women for its "shameless agitation."
In 1978, Pope John Paul II erected the Diocese of San Bernardino, removing Riverside and San Bernardino Counties from the Diocese of San Diego. In 1980, Maher issued a public condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan, saying that knowingly voting for a racist or a Klan member may constitute a sin. He prohibited priests from celebrating Mass for Dignity, a pro-LGBTQ+ Catholic organization; he once celebrated a Mass himself for HIV/AIDS patients at St. Joseph's Cathedral. In 1989, John Paul II appointed Bishop Robert Brom from the Diocese of Duluth as coadjutor bishop.
1990 to present
Bishop McElroy (2022)
After Maher retired in 1990, Brom succeeded him as bishop of San Diego. Brom helped found two Catholic high schools:
In February 2007, the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection after it was unable to reach a financial settlement with numerous plaintiffs suing over sexual abuse by clergy. In September 2007, the diocese agreed to pay $198.1 million to settle 144 claims, the second-largest settlement payment by a Catholic diocese in American history. The accused included 48 priests and one lay coordinator of altar boys.
Brom also created a pastoral center in San Diego after selling the former chancery building to the University of San Diego. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named Auxiliary Bishop Cirilo Flores from the Diocese of Orange as coadjutor bishop in San Diego. When Brom retired in 2013, Flores became the next bishop of San Diego, but he died from a stroke and cancer in September 2014.
In March 2015, Pope Francis appointed Auxiliary Bishop Robert McElroy from the Archdiocese of San Francisco as bishop of San Diego. In September 2018, the diocese added eight more names to its list of clergy with credible abuse accusations. In December 2018, a pastor, Juan Garcia Castillo, was sentenced to 60 years in jail and three years of probation, after an adult seminarian had accused Castillo of sexually assaulting him. In 2019, the Diocese of San Diego and five other California dioceses established a fund for clergy sexual abuse victims; by September 2021, the program had paid $24 million in claims. In May 2022, Pope Francis created McElroy as a cardinal. The diocese declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time since 2007 on June 17, 2024.
In January 2025, McElroy was named Archbishop of Washington by Francis. In May 2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Michael Pham of San Diego to succeed McElroy. Pham was Leo XIV's first episcopal appointment for the United States and the first Vietnamese-American to head a diocese.
In 2023, the Diocese of San Diego counted 96 parishes and 14 missions, serving a Catholic population of 1,386,368 in San Diego County and Imperial County. The diocese had 130 active priests and 60 retired priests, along with 122 permanent deacons, 163 religious sisters and 29 religious brothers.
As of 2026, the Diocese of San Diego had an enrollment of approximately 15,000 students in 31 pre-schools, 40 elementary schools, and seven high schools.
Cathedral Catholic High School – Carmel Valley, San Diego. Founded in 1939 as Cathedral Girls High School, became coed in 1970 and renamed as Cathedral Catholic High School in 2005.
12Gillmon, Rita (February 24, 1991). "Death takes Bishop Leo T. Maher, 75 Led diocese from 1969 to 1990 during a time of rapid change". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
↑Gillmon, Rita (February 24, 1991). "Death takes Bishop Leo T. Maher, 75 Led diocese from 1969 to 1990 during a time of rapid change". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
12Gillmon, Rita (February 24, 1991). "Death takes Bishop Leo T. Maher, 75 Led diocese from 1969 to 1990 during a time of rapid change". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
United States
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