José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán,

O.A.R. O.A.R. (short for Of A Revolution) is an American rock band, founded in 1996 in Rockville, Maryland. The band consists of lead vocalist/guitarist Marc Roberge, drummer Chris Culos, guitarist Richard On, bassist Benj Gershman, saxophonist/guitar ...

(; born 24 February 1944), is a Spanish-born Panamanian

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

of the

Order of Augustinian Recollects The Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR) is a mendicant Catholic religious order of friars and nuns. It is a reformist offshoot from the Augustinian hermit friars and follows the same Rule of St. Augustine. History The Order was founded in 16t ...

and

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 served as Bishop of David, Panama, since 1999. On 4 January 2015,

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. ...

announced that he would make him a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

on 14 February. At that ceremony, he was assigned the Church of

San Giuseppe da Copertino San Giuseppe da Copertino is a 20th-century parochial church and titular church in southern Rome, dedicated to Saint Joseph of Cupertino (1603–1663). History The church was built in 1951–56, originally as the first parish church of San Ma ...

as his

titular church In the Catholic Church, a titular church is a church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the clergy who is created a cardinal. These are Catholic churches in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rome, that serve as honorary de ...

Life

Lacunza was 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, in 1944. He was accepted as a candidate by the Recollect friars and studied at the St. Joseph

Minor Seminary A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Catholic priests. They are generally Catholic institutions, and ...

which they operated in

Artieda Artieda (in Aragonese: ''Artieda'' or ''Artieda d'Aragón'' Consello Asesor de l'Aragonéstoponyms on the comarca of a Chazetania/ref>) is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE INE ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

. Following this, he was received into the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the Order, at the conclusion of which he professed temporary

religious vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhism tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, many different kinds of re ...

and received the habit of the Order on 14 September 1964. He was then sent to do his university-level studies, first at the seminary run by the friars at their Monastery of Our Lady of Valentuñana in

Sos del Rey Católico Sos del Rey Católico (in Aragonese: Sos d'o Rei Catolico) is a historic town and municipality in the Cinco Villas comarca, province of Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. History Located on rocky and elevated terrain, this important border town ser ...

, Zaragoza, and later at the Augustinian Seminary of

Our Lady of Consolation Our Lady of Consolation or ''Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted'' (Latin: ) is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It dates back to the second century and is one of her earliest Marian titles of honor. The title ''Comforter of the a ...

in Pamplona. Following graduation, he was sent to do his

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

studies at the Major

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

of Our Lady of Pamplona. At the conclusion of his studies, he professed his solemn vows as a full and permanent member of the Order on 16 September 1967 and 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 ...

priest on 13 July 1969, both occurring in Pamplona. After his ordination, Lacunza was sent for a time to teach Latin and Religion at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo (

Our Lady of Good Counsel Our Lady of Good Counsel ( la, Mater boni consilii) is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, after a painting said to be miraculous, now found in the thirteenth century Augustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, Italy. Measuring the image ...

) in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, administered by the

Augustinian friars The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

. Soon after he was sent by his Order to teach at their school the ''Colegio San Agustín'' in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, serving as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

from 1979 to 1985. During this period, he also served on the board of directors of the

Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua Santa María La Antigua Catholic University ( es, Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua, USMA) is a private university in Panama City, Panama. It was established in 1965 as the first private university in Panama. As of 2021, it had 5,879 st ...

, as well earning a licentiate in Philosophy and History from the

University of Panama The University of Panama ( es, Universidad de Panamá) was founded on October 7, 1935. Initially, it had 175 students learning education, commerce, natural sciences, pharmacy, pre-engineering or law. , it had 74,059 students distributed in 228 b ...

with his published thesis, ''Fundamento Espiritual de la Edad Moderna'' ("The Spiritual Foundations of the Modern Age"). He became rector of the university in 1985 as well as Rector of St. Joseph the Great Seminary, serving the Archdiocese of Panama. He was later appointed as

Vicar General A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

of the archdiocese. Lacunza was appointed an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese by

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 ...

on 30 December 1985, for which he was consecrated on 18 January 1985, with the

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

Parthenia Parthenia may refer to: *Parthenia (music), the first printed collection of music for keyboard in England * Parthenia (Mauretania), a town and bishopric in the Roman province of Mauretania Sitifensis * Parthenia (Paphlagonia), a town of ancient Pap ...

. On 29 October 1994, Pope John Paul appointed him the Bishop of Chitré. He was transferred to the office of Bishop of David by the same pope on 2 July 1999. He came to serve as President of the

Episcopal Conference of Panama The Episcopal Conference of Panama is the union of all the bishops of Panama, which in turn are the holders of each diocese. The Episcopal Conference of Panama forms a single Ecclesiastical Province, which consists of: An Archdiocese: * Roman Cath ...

(2010–2013) as well as an official of the

Latin American Episcopal Conference 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 in 1 ...

(CELAM). During this time he achieved national prominence through his mediation of a violent dispute which broke out between the government and the indigenous Ngöbe–Buglé people over the mining of their ancestral lands.

elevated Lacunza to the rank of cardinal in February 2015. He is the first member of his order (established in 1588) and the first Panamanian to be named a cardinal. Cardinal Lacunza presided at the beatification of

James Miller (religious brother) James Alfred Miller, FSC (September 21, 1944 – February 13, 1982), also known as Brother Leo William or Santiago, was an American Catholic member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Miller served as a teacher first in Cretin High Schoo ...

on 7 December 2019 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

Views

According to notes of the proceedings of the

Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops The Fourteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, popularly referred to as the Synod on the Family, took place from 4 to 25 October 2015 with the theme of "the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemp ...

in 2015, made public by Archbishop

Stanisław Gądecki Stanisław Gądecki (born 1949) is the archbishop of Poznan, Poland. He is a Polish Roman Catholic church, Roman Catholic Bishop, Doctor of theology, doctor of Theological Sciences, and archbishop of Poznań since 2002. and serves as president of ...

, Lacunza suggested that the Mosaic Law's sanction of divorce was "merciful" and asked, "Could Peter not be merciful like Moses?"

References

External links

* , , {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacunza Maestrojuan, Jose Luis 1944 births Living people People from Pamplona Augustinian Recollects Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Spanish emigrants to Panama People from David District Spanish Roman Catholic bishops in Central America 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Panama 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Panama Augustinian Recollect bishops Augustinian cardinals Panamanian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Francis Roman Catholic bishops of David Roman Catholic bishops of Chitré

Life

Views

See also

References

External links