The cancer afflicting the bishop of San Diego’s Catholic diocese is “widespread, very advanced and very aggressive,” the diocese announced Wednesday.
Bishop Cirilo Flores will be moved Friday to the Catholic-run Nazareth House in Mission Valley, where he will receive palliative care, according to Monsignor Steven Callahan. Palliative care is designed to relieve pain and stress during a serious illness.
“Unfortunately, Bishop Flores is not a candidate for chemotherapy because of his very weak condition and the advanced stage of the disease,” Callahan said.
The monsignor announced last month that Flores, who suffered a stroke in his office nearly five months ago, was suffering from prostate cancer and was being treated at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles. In the latest statement, he said the origin of Flores’ cancer was unknown but that it had spread to his bones.
He asked that people not try to visit the bishop but continue to pray for him.
Flores succeeded Robert Brom as bishop last September.
The 65-year-old Corona native graduated from Loyola Marymount University and earned a law degree at Stanford University before attending seminary school.
He spent many years as a priest in Orange County after being ordained in 1991. He was named an auxiliary bishop in 2009 and a coadjutor bishop in 2012.
Flores also served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ subcommittees on Latin America and Hispanic affairs.
The San Diego diocese, established in 1936, consists of 98 parishes, 14 missions and 90 schools and preschools in San Diego and Imperial counties.
— City News Service