His Excellency Most Rev. Steven J Lopes

His Excellency Most Rev. Steven J. Lopes, STD

Bishop of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter 

Steven Joseph Lopes was born in Fremont, Calif. to Barbara Jane and (the late) Dr. José de Oliveira Lopes. The only child to two educators – his father taught languages and history at the university level, and his mother taught in Catholic schools for 47 years — Bishop Lopes was formed and educated by Catholic schools in the Golden State: St. Pius School (Redwood City, Calif.); St. Edward School (Newark, Calif.); and Moreau Catholic High School (Hayward, Calf.).

After undergraduate studies at the University of San Francisco, he entered St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif. He completed his seminary education at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.  On June 23, 2001, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Francisco by Cardinal William J. Levada (then Archbishop Levada).

As a priest of the Archdiocese, he served in two of its parishes: St. Patrick Catholic Church located in San Francisco and St. Anselm Catholic Church in Ross, Calif. 

He studied philosophy and liturgy at the University of Innsbruck.  He earned licentiate and doctorate degrees in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he also served as an adjunct faculty member from 2005-2015.  

In 2005, he was named an official of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office responsible for promoting and preserving Catholic teaching. For seven of his 10-plus years at the Vatican, he served as secretary to the Cardinal Prefect. 

Pope Francis named him the Bishop of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter on Nov. 24, 2015. 

Founded in 2012, the Ordinariate is a non-territorial diocese with the particular mission of unity among Christians.  The Ordinariate parishes have come into full communion with the Catholic Church from the Episcopal/Anglican tradition, and continue to bring that rich patrimony of English Catholicism to new fruitfulness.