SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Bishop Cirilo Flores died Saturday after a battle with cancer, San Diego's Catholic diocese announced.
Bishop Flores, 66, died at 2:47 p.m. Saturday at the Catholic-run Nazareth House in Mission Valley where he was receiving care for prostate cancer, the diocese said in a statement. Tom Martinez, Monsignor Steven Callahan and the Sisters of the Nazareth were at his side.
The diocese announced in August that Bishop Flores, who suffered a stroke in his office about five months ago, was battling prostate cancer and was being treated at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday the diocese announced the cancer was "widespread, very advanced and very aggressive" and that Flores would be moved to the Nazareth House for palliative care, 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 Wednesday.
Flores succeeded Bishop Emeritus Robert Brom as bishop last September.
The 66-year-old Corona native graduated from Loyola Marymount University and earned a law degree at Stanford University before attending seminary school.
He spent almost two decades 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.