Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves S.J. (born 20 April 1959) is a Spanish priest, a member of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, who was the prefect of the Vatican

Secretariat for the Economy The Secretariat for the Economy ( it, Segreteria per l'economia) is a dicastery of the Roman Curia with authority over all economic activities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Description Pope Francis established the secretariat in ...

from 1 January 2020 to 30 November 2022. Before that he taught at the university level and held administrative positions within the Jesuit order.

Biography

Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, S.J., was born on 20 April 1959 in

Mérida, Spain Mérida () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Province of Badajoz, and capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Located in the western-central part of the Iberian Peninsula at 217 metres above sea level, the city is crosse ...

, the second of four brothers. After beginning college to study economics following the career path of his father, a businessman, he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in 1979. He was ordained a priest on 30 May 1992. He earned a licentiate in economics at the

Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; UAM), commonly known as simply la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 alongside the Autonomous Universi ...

in 1986 and a licentiate in philosophy and letters there in 1993. He studied theology in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

, Brazil, and Lyon, France, and obtained a licentiate in theology from the

Comillas Pontifical University Comillas Pontifical University ( es, Universidad Pontificia Comillas) is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Spanish Province of the Society of Jesus in Madrid Spain. The university is involved in a number of academic exch ...

in 1994. He studied political philosophy at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

in 1998–1999. He served as professor of social and political philosophy at the

from 1994 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2003. His academic publications include many articles in social and political philosophy and on Ignatian spirituality as well. For the Jesuits he was master of novices in Spain from 2003 to 2008, provincial superior of the province of Castilla from 2008 to 2014, treasurer of the Society of Jesus in Mozambique from 2015 to 2017, and director of Saint Ignatius of Loyola secondary school in

Tete, Mozambique Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues ...

, for the year 2016-2017, its first year. Beginning in 2017 he served as delegate of the superior general in Rome for interprovincial homes and works and as general counsellor of the Society of Jesus, where he had administrative and budgeting responsibilities for the Pontifical Gregorian University and Biblical Institute, the Oriental Institute, the Vatican Observatory, Vatican Radio, and some student residences and guest houses. He has led numerous retreats, including one for the bishops of Spain in January 2019. On 14 November 2019,

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. ...

named him prefect of the Secretariate for the Economy, effective 1 January 2020. Although when Pope Francis created that position he established that it should be held by a cardinal, and therefore normally a bishop, he agreed to allow Guerrero Alves to remain a priest so that he could return to ordinary assignments as a Jesuit when his curial service ends. On 30 November 2022, his resignation for personal reasons was announced.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerrero Alves, Juan Antonio Living people 1959 births People from Mérida, Spain Comillas Pontifical University alumni Autonomous University of Madrid alumni 20th-century Jesuits 21st-century Jesuits Officials of the Roman Curia