Eustaquio Pastor Cuquejo Verga
C.Ss.R.
The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...
(20 September 1939 – 22 August 2023) was a Paraguayan Roman Catholic prelate who was the Archbishop of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Asunción
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Asunción ( la, Archidioecesis Sanctissimae Assumptionis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Paraguay.
It was created as the Diocese of Paraguay by Pope Paul III on Jul ...
.
Biography
Cuquejo was born on
San Estanislao {{Infobox settlement
, settlement_type = City & District
, official_name = San Estanislao de Kostka
, native_name =
, nickname = Santaní
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, imagesize ...
on 20 September 1939. He joined the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...
in 1957. From 1959 to 1964 he studied theology and philosophy at the Redemptorist priest's seminar in
Esopus, New York
Esopus ( ) is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 9,041 at the 2010 census. The town was named after the local indigenous tribe and means "small river" in English. They were one of the Lenape (Delaware) bands, b ...
. There he received his
holy orders on 21 June 1964. He then studied pastoral psychology in
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...
. After a short time as a vicar in Paraguay, he became professor and
apostolic prefect
An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...
at the seminar of the Redemptorists in
Ponta Grossa
Ponta Grossa () is a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil. The estimated population is 355,336 according to official data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and it is the 4th most populous city in Paraná ...
, Brazil on 21 July 1968, and from 1973 professor of
moral theology
Ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''"Ethics"/ref> A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is simply sati ...
at the Theologicum de Curitiba. From 1975 to 1977, he completed a postgraduate degree in Moral Theology at the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome, belonging to the
Pontifical Lateran University
The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Ponti ...
.
On 6 January 1978, he was elected
provincial superior of the Redemptorists in Paraguay; in 1981 he was re-elected. From 1978 to 1982 he was vice president of the ''Confederación de Religiosos del Paraguay'', and from 1981 he was president of the ''Conferencia de Puebla''.
In 1982, he was appointed Bishop of
Budua
Budva ( cnr, Будва, or ) is a Montenegrin town on the Adriatic Sea. It has 19,218 inhabitants, and it is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budva riviera, is the center of Montenegrin tourism, kno ...
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 ...
and appointed as
auxiliary bishop in Asunción. The Archbishop of Asunción,
Ismael Rolón Silvero gave him his holy orders in the Metropolitan Cathedral on 15 August 1982; co-consecrators were the then Auxiliary Bishop of Asunción Jorge Adolfo, Carlos Livieres Banks, and Aloísio Ariovaldo (Tarcísio) Amaral, then Bishop of Limeira, São Paulo.
In 1983, he was elected to the Permanent Council of the
Paraguayan Episcopal Conference, became Chairman of the Economic Committee of the CEP from 1984, and became a member of the ''Congregación para los Religiosos y los Institutos Seculares'' in 1986. In 1986–1987 he was chairman of the CEP for the second National Eucharistic Congress and the visit of John Paul II to Paraguay. In 1987, he became a member 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), and from 1991 he was chairman of the Education Commission.
In 1989, he was elected administrator of the Archbishopric of Asunción "ad interim", shortly thereafter in 1990 to
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 ...
the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ciudad del Este
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ciudad del Este ( la, Dioecesis Urbis Orientalis) is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church based in the city of Ciudad del Este, in the Ecclesiastical Province of Asunción in Paraguay.
History
* On March 25, 1968, ...
. In 1992, John Paul II appointed him titular bishop of Aufinium and appointed him to the
Military Ordinariate of Paraguay
The Military Bishopric of Paraguay ( es, Obispado de las Fuerzas Armadas y la Policia Nacional del Paraguay) is a military ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church. Immediately subject to the Holy See, it provides pastoral care to Roman Catho ...
during the presidency of
Andrés Rodríguez Andrés Rodríguez may refer to:
* Andrés Rodríguez (politician) (1923–1997), president of Paraguay
* Andrés Rodríguez (basketball) (born 1981), basketball player from Puerto Rico
*Andres Rodriguez (show jumper)
Andres Rodríguez (11 May ...
. During the annual CEP 1994, he was elected CEP General Secretary. In November of that same year, Pope John Paul II appointed him
Apostolic Administrator
An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...
of Caacupé. In 2000, he was appointed Bishop and Apostolic Administrator of Alto Paraná.
In 2002 he was appointed Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Asunción. Since 2002 he was Vice-President of the Paraguayan Episcopal Conference.
Cuquejo was considered as a potential
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 ...
for a time; had he been selected, he would have been the first Paraguayan cardinal. His
suffragan bishop
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...
,
Rogelio Livieres Plano publicly claimed in 2014 that Cuquejo was homosexual, which caused a scandal in Paraguay. As a result, a visitation to Livieres Plano's diocese was arranged, and Livieres Plano was expelled from office by
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. ...
.
In November 2014, Cuquejo resigned as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Asunción due to age, and Pope Francis appointed
Edmundo Valenzuela
Archbishop Edmundo Ponziano Valenzuela Mellid Salesians of Don Bosco, SDB (born 19 November 1944) is a Roman Catholic missionary currently serving in Paraguay as the sixth Metropolitan bishop, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdioc ...
as the new archbishop on 6 November.
Pastor Cuquejo died on 22 August 2023, at the age of 83.
References
External links
*
Biography of Pastor Cuquejo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuquejo, Pastor
1939 births
2023 deaths
Redemptorist bishops
Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II
20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Paraguay
20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Paraguay
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Paraguay
Roman Catholic archbishops of Asunción
Paraguayan Roman Catholic archbishops