Pope names new archbishops in Peru, Mexico

Vatican City, Jan 25, 2019 / 07:42 am

Pope Francis Friday appointed the next archbishops of two metropolitan sees – Fr. Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio was named to Lima, Peru and Archbishop Jose Antonio Fernandez Hurtado to Tlalnepantla, Mexico.

In Lima, Castillo will replace Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, whose resignation was accepted Jan. 25 after he reached 75, the ordinary age of retirement for clergy, at the end of December.

The see of the Archdiocese of Tlalnepantla has been vacant since December 2017, when Pope Francis transferred Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes to lead the Archdiocese of Mexico City.

Castillo, 68, has been a professor of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru since 1987, where he is also an advisor for the university's pastoral assistance center. He also serves at San Francisco Solano Parish.

Born in Lima in 1950, the archbishop-elect studied social sciences at the National University of San Marcos in Lima before entering the seminary. He did ecclesiastical studies at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, including a doctorate in dogmatic theology, and was ordained a priest in 1984.

Besides serving in various parishes, he was also counselor of the National Union of Catholic Students from 1987-1998 and vicar for youth ministry in Lima from 1996-1999.

From 1990-2001 Castillo was national advisor for the youth commission of the Peru bishops' conference. He is also the author of several theological books, including some on the topic of young people and the faith. In addition to Spanish, he speaks Italian and French.

Lima, the capital of Peru, has a population of around 2.8 million, of which 84 percent are Catholic. The archdiocese spans 246 square miles, and as of 2016, had 121 parishes.

Archbishop Jose Antonio Fernandez Hurtado, 66, has been the head of the Archdiocese of Durango, Mexico since November 2014.

He was first made a bishop when Pope St. John Paul II appointed him to head the Diocese of Tuxtepec in Oaxaca on February 11, 2005.

Born in Morelia in 1952, the archbishop entered the minor seminary in 1966, then spent two years at Montezuma Seminary in New Mexico before returning to finish his studies at the Tula Interregional Seminary.

He was ordained in 1978 and received a licentiate in youth and catechetical pastoral care from the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome in 1989.

In the Diocese of Tula, he held positions as coordinator of vocational pastoral care, coordinator of youth ministry, seminary rector, secretary chancellor, and coordinator of the commission for the clergy.

He was vicar general from 1996-2005 and taught pastoral theology at the diocese's major seminary from 1990-2005. For the Mexican bishops' conference, he was head of the catechetical section of the prophetic pastoral commission.