HRC Blog

Prop 8 Architect Set to Take the Helm of San Francisco Archdiocese

July 27, 2012 by Dan Rafter, Online Campaigns Manager

Oakland Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, one of the leading architects in the campaign to pass the discriminatory Proposition 8 in California, has been named the new Archbishop of San Francisco by Pope Benedict XVI. Cordileone played a central role in founding and executing the Protect Marriage campaign, and under his influence, Catholic organizations in California played a leading role in financing the Prop 8 campaign. His partners included the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Focus on the Family. In fact, it was Cordileone who personally phoned NOM co-founder Maggie Gallagher and asked her to get NOM involved in the Prop 8 fight.

Now, as Archbishop of San Francisco, Cordileone will oversee more than 400,000 Catholic parishioners across 90 parishes. As a metropolitan archbishop, Cordileone will have bishops in dioceses including Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, Sacramento, and Reno under his supervision.

Bishop Cordileone’s extremist views are out of step with the majority of Catholics. A May 2012 Gallup poll found support for marriage equality among Catholic at more than 50 percent, as did a recent poll from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Cordileone is set to be ordained as San Francisco’s new archbishop in early October. That same month, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether it will hear arguments on Prop 8.