Lopes returned to Rome to obtain a doctorate in sacred theology from the Gregorian University.[1][5][9] Since 2005, he has served as an official of the Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, while also serving as a professor of theology at the Gregorian. During that time, he served as a personal aide to William Cardinal Levada, who was prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith from 2005 to 2012.[10] On July 10, 2010, he was appointed a Chaplain of His Holiness and therefore was then addressed as "Monsignor".[6] Starting in 2012, Lopes served as the secretary of the Vatican commission Anglicanae Traditiones, which was formed with the goal of developing a missal that would blend Anglican and Roman Rite liturgical elements for the use of the personal ordinariates.[2][10]
Episcopal ministry
Lopes at the end of a Solemn Pontifical Divine Worship liturgy
On November 24, 2015, the Holy See announced that Pope Francis had appointed Lopes as the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, a church structure for Catholics in the US and Canada who were mostly formerly Anglicans.[2][5][9] This announcement coincided with the first Sunday on which the ordinariates began celebrating Mass using Divine Worship: The Missal, developed while Lopes was serving on the Anglicanae Traditiones commission in Rome. As ordinary, Lopes succeeded Jeffrey N. Steenson, a former Episcopal bishop appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.[5][2][11]
^"The Ex-Anglicans of America Say No To Communion for the Divorced and Remarried". February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017. Its bishop is Steven J. Lopes, 42, born in California to a Portuguese father and Polish mother, who for ten years, since 2005, has been an official of the Vatican congregation for the doctrine of the faith, and was promoted to his present role by Pope Francis on November 24, 2015.
^"Biographical Summary". The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Retrieved January 4, 2016.