 Elizondo moved to Paris, France, soon after this, where he enrolled at the Institut Catholique de Paris, a leading faculty in catechetical studies in 1978, earning there the degrees of both a Doctor of Philosophy and a Doctor of Sacred Theology.In the late 1980s, Flores, by then the Archbishop of San Antonio, appointed Elizondo appointed as the pastor of the Cathedral of San Fernando.He introduced a Spanish-language Mass there which was broadcast to a million homes.