Francisco appoints new members to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America

On March 10, the names of the new members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America were announced. The Bishops appointed by Pope Francis come from Spain, Mexico, Brazil, the United States and Colombia.

Vatican City

Pope Francis has appointed members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America to the cardinals: Orani João Tempesta, archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro and Carlos Osoro Sierra, archbishop of Madrid; The Most Excellent Monsignors Rogelio Cabrera López, Archbishop of Monterrey; Luis José Rueda Aparicio, Archbishop of Bogotá; Nelson Jesús Pérez, Archbishop of Philadelphia.

The Pontifical Commission for Latin America is an organism of the Roman Curia created in 1958 whose primary function is to “advise and help the particular Churches in Latin America” and “study the questions that refer to the life and progress of said churches. Churches. As part of its competences is the study of issues related to the life and progress of the Church in this part of the world. Likewise, it carries out actions to favor relations between international ecclesiastical institutions focused on our continent.

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In coherence with this, it works closely with the Latin American Confederation of Religious (CLAR) regarding the insertion and participation of religious and the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM).

At the service of the Latin American Church

These are the new members of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America:

• Spain: Cardinal Carlos Osoro is the archbishop of Madrid and since June 2016 it is ordinary for the Eastern Catholic faithful residing in Spain. He is currently the vice president of the Episcopal Conference for the period between 2020 and 2024. He participated in the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2015 dedicated to the family.
• Brazil: Cardinal Orani Joao Tempesta is the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro. He belongs to the Cistercian order and as part of his extensive pastoral experience he is remembered as president of the Organizing Committee of the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, an event attended by Pope Francis and which is considered his first international travel.
• Mexico: Monsignor Rogelio Cabrera López is the Archbishop of Monterrey, Nuevo León state. He is currently the president of the economic affairs council of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) for the four-year period between 2019 and 2023. The Mexican Episcopal Conference appointed him as its president for the triennium between 2018 and 2021. He participated in the Synod of Bishops carried out in Rome in 2012.
• Colombia: Monsignor Luis José Rueda Aparicio, is the archbishop of Bogotá and primate of Colombia. Before arriving at this headquarters, he was bishop of the diocese of Montelíbano and archbishop of Popayán, which allowed him to develop his charism of service to the communities affected by the armed conflict in the country.
• U.S: Monsignor Nelson de Jesús Pérez has been the archbishop of Philadelphia since January 23, 2020. An ecclesiastical jurisdiction he arrived at after spending three years as head of the Diocese of Cleveland. He was born in Miami and before entering the seminary he taught at an elementary school in Puerto Rico.

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