Felipe de Jesús Estévez (born February 5, 1946) is a Cuban-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was bishop of the

Diocese of St. Augustine The Diocese of St. Augustine is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church, located in the U.S. state of Florida. It is a suffragan diocese in the Ecclesiastical Province of Miami, covering much of North Florida, including t ...

in Florida from 2011 to 2022. Estévez previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Miami The Archdiocese of Miami ( la, Archidioecesis Miamiensis, es, Arquidiócesis de Miami, ht, Achidyosèz Miami) is a particular church of the Catholic Church in the United States of America. Its ecclesiastical territory consists of Broward, Miami ...

in Florida from 2003 to 2011.

Biography

Early life

Felipe Estévez was born in Pedro Betancourt,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

on February 6, 1946. He fled to the United States as a young man under

Operation Peter Pan Operation Peter Pan (or Operación Pedro Pan) was a clandestine exodus of over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban minors ages 6 to 18 to the United States over a two-year span from 1960 to 1962. They were sent after parents feared that Fidel Castro and ...

, a program to bring Cuban children to the United States. He is the second of three children (two boys and a girl) of Adriano and Estrella Estevez. Estévez studied at

Montreal University Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

in Montreal, Quebec, and received a

Licentiate of Theology The Licentiate in Theology or (in Britain) Licence in Theology (LTh or, in Australia, ThL) is a non-degree qualification in theology awarded in Canada and previously awarded in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. A qualification simila ...

in 1970.

Priesthood

Estévez was ordained a priest by Bishop Leo Pursley for the

Diocese of Matanzas The Diocese of Matanzas is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Cuba. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Cristobal de la Habana. The diocese was ...

in Cuba on May 30, 1970 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Estévez was sent to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, serving as associate pastor of Guascoran Parish in Guascoran, Honduras for one year. He became a faculty member in

of the St. Joseph Seminary for one year and Our Lady of Suyapa Seminary for two years. Returning to the United States in 1975, Estévez joined the faculty at

St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary located in Boynton Beach, Florida for the education and formation of seminarians to the Roman Catholic priesthood. St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary was established to form m ...

in Boynton Beach, Florida, serving there until 1977. In 1977, he received a Master in Arts degree from

Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is within the territory of the Archdiocese of Miami ...

in Miami Shores, Florida. Estévez was incardinated, or transferred, into the Archdiocese of Miami on February 9, 1979. He then went to Rome to study at the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

, receiving a

Doctor of Sacred Theology The Doctor of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Doctor, abbreviated STD), also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology (, abbreviated STP), is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church, ...

degree in 1980. Estevez is fluent in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, English, French and Italian. After his return to Florida, he was appointed as president/rector of St. Vincent de Paul, maintaining that role until 1986. Estévez became the campus minister at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest uni ...

in Miami, Florida in 1987. That same year, he was appointed pastor of St. Agatha Parish in Miami . Estévez left both positions in 2001 to become dean of spiritual formation at St. Vincent de Paul.

Auxiliary Bishop of Miami

Estévez was appointed 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 ...

as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami 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 Kearney on November 21, 2003. On January 7, 2004, he was consecrated at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Miami by Archbishop

John Favalora John Clement Favalora (born December 5, 1935) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami from 1994 to 2010 and as bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana from 1986 to 1989 and a ...

. His co-consecrators were Archbishop Pedro Estiu and Bishop

Thomas Olmsted Thomas James Olmsted (born January 21, 1947) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix in Arizona from 2003 to 2022. He previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Wichita in Kansas from 200 ...

. In 2010, Estévez was appointed as vicar general for the archdiocese.

Bishop of St. Augustine

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

appointed Estévez as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine to succeed the retiring Bishop

Victor Galeone Victor Benito Galeone (born 1935) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine in Florida from 2001 to 2011. Biography Early life Victor Galeone was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ...

on April 27, 2011. Estevez was installed at St. Joseph Catholic Church in

Mandarin (Jacksonville) Mandarin is a neighborhood located in the southernmost portion of Jacksonville, in Duval County, Florida, United States. It is located on the eastern banks of the St. Johns River, across from Orange Park. It's a short drive south of Jacksonville ...

Florida. The installation was attended by over 2,000 lay people, deacons, priests, and bishops from around the country and was broadcast on

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initials EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It is not only the largest Catholic television network in ...

. Estévez is an active opponent of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...

for women, routinely meeting with legislators, writing policy papers and delivering speeches; he has also been an advocate for the rights of the disabled and immigrants. Estévez initiated the first ecumenical

vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern), Lutheranism, Lutheran, and Anglican ...

at the bishop-level in Florida on January 22, 2014, at the

Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine ( es, Catedral basílica de San Agustín) is a historic cathedral in St. Augustine, Florida, and the seat of the Catholic Bishop of St. Augustine. It is located at 38 Cathedral Place between Charlotte an ...

in St. Augustine. The service was attended by Protestant and Orthodox leaders, clergy and lay people. He attended the installation of Bishop Robert Schaefer of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...

near Tampa, Florida. He collaborated with local

Eastern Orthodox Christian Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

leaders in support of the meeting between Pope Francis and

Patriarch Bartholomew i Bartholomew I ( el, Βαρθολομαῖος Αʹ, , tr, I. Bartholomeos; born 29 February 1940) is the 270th archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, since 2 November 1991. In accordance with his title, he is regarded as the '' ...

n Jerusalem on May 25, 2014. On October 15, 2019, Estévez announced that the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, located in the Nombre de Dios mission in St. Augustine, had been designated by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops as a national shrine. On May 24, 2022,

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. ...

accepted Estévez' resignation as bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Viewpoints

Immigration

On June 19, 2019, Estévez said we must show compassion and acknowledge the dignity of

undocumented immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

in the United States and called for reform of the U.S. immigration system.

Capital punishment

On May 28, 2020, Estévez published a

pastoral letter A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumst ...

in which he condemned the use of

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in Florida. He stated:

We don't want anyone in society to be in danger because of these criminals, but we don't think that death is the answer. Killing them because they have killed would perpetuate the cycle of violence."

Abortion

On October 11, 2020, just before the

2020 US presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala H ...

, Estévez asked Catholic voters to consider the church's opposition to

for women when selecting candidates. He called abortion the "preeminent human rights issue" of our time.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine Official Site

* ''Bishop Ordained, Gets Ovation''; The Miami Herald - January 8, 2004 * ''The Newest Bishop''; The Miami Herald - January 8, 2004 * ''Roman Catholics Debate Whether Communion Should Be Withheld From Politician -Parishioners - Or Even All Catholics - Whose Views On Abortion Contradict Church Teachings''; Miami Herald, The (FL) - May 30, 2004 * ''Monseñor Estevez Assume Como Obispo Auxiliar''; El Nuevo Herald - January 7, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Estevez, Felipe De Jesus 1946 births Roman Catholic bishops of Saint Augustine 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Living people Florida International University people Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami Cuban emigrants to the United States People from Matanzas Province Université de Montréal alumni Barry University alumni Pontifical North American College alumni Pontifical Gregorian University alumni St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary alumni