Joaquín Mariano Sucunza (15 February 1946) is an Argentine

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He has been auxiliary bishop of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

since 2000.

Life

Born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

, Spain, to a family of shepherds based in

Lecumberri The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of Mexico City, Mexico, which now houses the General National Archive (''Archivo General de la Nación''). Known in popular culture as ''The Black Palace of Lecumb ...

in the

Navarra Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

region on 15 February 1946, Sucunza moved with his family to Argentina, arriving on 11 December 1948. He completed all his studies for the priesthood at the Buenos Aires seminary. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood on 27 November 1971. He fulfilled a series parish assignments over the next three decades and was named episcopal vicar for the central zone of Buenos Aires in 1998. On 22 July 2000,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him auxiliary bishop of

and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Saetabis. Sucunza received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

on the following 21 October from

Jorge Mario Bergoglio 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. ...

, Archbishop of Buenos Aires (later

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. ...

), with Mario José Serra, Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, and

Guillermo Leaden Guillermo Leaden, S.D.B. (July 20, 1913 – July 14, 2014) was an Argentine bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. At the age of 100, he was one of the oldest bishops in the Church and the oldest Argentine bishop. Life Leaden was born in Buenos Air ...

, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus, serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

. Bergoglio gave him increasing responsibility, naming him moderator of the curia on 12 December 2000, vicar general on 27 April 2002, and episcopal vicar for economic affairs on 3 June 2008. He serves as head of the Economic Affairs Council of the

Episcopal Conference of Argentina 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 ...

from 2017 to 2020. He was vicar general of the Archdiocese when Archbishop Bergoglio was elected to the papacy, and the administrators of the archdiocese chose him to head the Archdiocese until Bergoglio named a successor. Sucunza reported that Pope Francis called him the day after his election and they spoke for 45 minutes. He quoted Francis as saying of the papal election: "When I saw that the number was already irreversible as the votes were counted, I imagined I was dying, ... a very rare thing, inside of me. When that brief moment passed, I felt different. I do not know what happened to me, but I felt different." In addition to participating with the other Argentine bishops in ''ad limina'' visits with the pope, he had a personal visit with

on 22 November 2018.

References

External links

* catholic-hierarchy.org
Bishop Joaquín Mariano Sucunza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sucunza, Joaquin Mariano 1946 births 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Argentina Living people Roman Catholic bishops of Buenos Aires