Salvatore Cordileone, San Francisco's archbishop-elect, was caught driving under the influence in San Diego over the weekend. He was arrested and booked at an area jail. Now the man of God publicly apologized for driving drunk.

Associated Press reports that Cordileone was "driving home from a dinner with friends in San Diego with his mother and a visiting priest friend early Saturday when he was pulled over at a DUI checkpoint near San Diego State University."

In a statement issued Monday, via Queerty, Cordileone mea culpa'd:

“While visiting in San Diego this past weekend, I had dinner at the home of some friends along with a priest friend visiting from outside the country and my mother, who lives near San Diego State University. While driving my mother home, I passed through a DUI checkpoint the police had set up near the SDSU campus before I reached her home, and was found to be over the California legal blood alcohol level.

“I apologize for my error in judgment and feel shame for the disgrace I have brought upon the Church and myself. I will repay my debt to society and I ask forgiveness from my family and my friends and co-workers at the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I pray that God, in His [sic] inscrutable wisdom, will bring some good out of this.”

San Diego Officer Mark McCullough said of the arrest, "He was a driver that was obviously impaired but he was quite cordial and polite throughout ... He was not a belligerent drunk at all ... There were no problems with him throughout the night."

Though Cordileone has apologized for risking the life of his mother and others while getting behind the wheel wasted on Saturday night, it is important to note that he was also part of a network of anti-civil rights clergy who boosted Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban. The troubled drinker personally handed over at least $6,000 to back the ban.

Meanwhile, his mother, Mary, who is downright adorable if not a wee bit bigoted, gave an interview to San Diego’s KMFB to defend her son. She said,"We were invited to some friend's house and he loved his wine and they kept filling his glass and filling his glass. And I didn't want to seem like a bossy mother." Regarding his new gig in toot toot beep beep Frisco Disco, she went on to say, "It's gonna be a tough job because, you know he's always preached against same-sex marriages and then the gays are very active there."

Photo: AP