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East County News ServiceMay 22, 2025 (San Diego) – Auxiliary Bishop Michael Pham, 58, has been appointed by Pope Leo XIV to serve as Bishop of the San Diego Catholic diocese, the Vatican announced today.
Born in Vietnam, Bishop Pham was ordained in 1999 and previously served in parishes across the San Diego region before becoming Auxiliary Bishop and now Bishop.
He fills the vacancy left when Cardinal Robert McElroy, formerly San Diego’s Bishop, was named Archbishop of Washington D.C. in March.
Pham fled Da Nang, Vietnam as a 13-year-old refugee in 1980 with a sister and brother, staying in a refugee camp in Malaysia before coming to Minnesota in the U.S. as a refugee in 1981.
His parents and several other siblings arrived soon after and the family moved to San Diego in 1985, according to his biography on the diocese website.
According to Catholic News Service, he holds multiple degrees, including an aeronautical engineering bachelor’s degree from San Diego State, a master’s in psychology from the University of Phoenix, a master’s degree in divinity from St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park and a licentiate degree in sacred theology from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy.
Pham has also served as titular bishop of Cercina in Italy.
Within the San Diego diocese, he has held positions including vocations director, vicar for ethnic and intercultural communities and vicar general of San Diego. He has served on various church councils and boards, including the diocese’s executive board.
In a May 2024 interview with 10 News, Pham said his priorities as Auxiliary Bishop included celebrating and highlighting all of the different cultures that make San Diego unique.
He said he felt called to “live out my life in the service of others, not just the Vietnamese community or Asian community, but the whole church throughout the world.”
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