His Excellency Excellency is an honorific style (manner of address), style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", the holder ...

The Most Reverend The Most Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures, primarily within the historic denominations of Christianity, but occasionally in some more modern traditions also. It is a variant of the more common style "The Reverend". Anglic ...

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

. Gabriel Antonio Mestre (born 15 September 1968) is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who has been named metropolitan archbishop of

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

. He was bishop of Mar del Plata from 2017 to 2023.

Biography

Gabriel Antonio Mestre was born on 15 September 1968 in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

, Argentina, to Cándido Mestre y Ana Luisa Gasparoli. He has one sister. After studying at local schools, he studied social work at the National University of Mar del Plata for a year. In 1989 he entered the San José Seminary, in La Plata. He obtained a licentiate in biblical theology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, while working in a local parish and living at the major seminary of Buenos Aires. He was ordained a priest of the

Diocese of Mar del Plata The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mar del Plata ( la, Dioecesis Maris Platensis) is in Argentina and is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of La Plata. History On 11 February 1957, Pope Pius XII established the Diocese of Mar del Plata from the Diocese ...

on 16 May 1997 by José María Arancedo, Bishop of Mar del Plata. He served as parish vicar of the cathedral from 1997 to 2000; parish priest of Asunción de la Virgen and chaplain of the Maternity Hospital of Mar del Plata from 2002 to 2010. He was also a member of the priests council and the college of consulters, vice rector and professor at the University School of Theology in Mar del Plata, and a founder and councillor of the diocesan secretariat for family pastoral care from 2010 to 2014. Within

CELAM Based in Bogotá ( Colombia), the Latin American Episcopal Council ( es, Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano; pt, Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano), better known as CELAM, is a council of the Roman Catholic bishops of Latin America, created i ...

, he served as a member of the Biblical Pastoral Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean. From 2012 to 2017 he was vicar general and parish priest of the Cathedral of Mar del Plata. On 18 July 2017,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

appointed him bishop of Mar del Plata. He was the first bishop there to be a native of Mar del Plata. He received his episcopal consecration on 16 August from Antonio Marino, Bishop Emeritus of Mar del Plata. He chose as his episcopal motto "Christ is our peace". Within the

Argentine Episcopal Conference The Argentine Episcopal Conference ( es, Conferencia Episcopal Argentina) is an episcopal conference of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina that gathers the bishops of the country in order to discuss pastoral issues and in general all matters tha ...

, he was president of the Episcopal Commission for Catechesis, Animation and Biblical Pastoral Ministry. On 28 July 2023, Pope Francis promoted him to metropolitan archbishop of La Plata. His installation there is scheduled for 16 September.

References

External links

Archbishop Gabriel Antonio Mestre
on Catholic Hierarchy {{DEFAULTSORT:Mestre, Gabriel Antonio 1968 births Living people People from Mar del Plata Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina alumni Bishops appointed by Pope Francis