Juan de Dios Hernández-Ruiz, S.J. (born November 14, 1948, in

Holguín Holguín (, ) is a municipality-city in Cuba. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the List of cities in Cuba, fourth largest city in Cuba. History Before Christopher Columbus, Columbus, the Taino people settled in huts made fro ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

) is a

Cuban Cuban or Cubans may refer to: Related to Cuba * of or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban Americ ...

Roman Catholic bishop, currently serving as the Bishop of Pinar del Río since his appointment by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on June 5, 2019. He previously served as the

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 ...

Passo Corese Passo Corese is an Italian town and hamlet (''frazione'') of Fara in Sabina, a municipality in the province of Rieti, Lazio. In 2011 it had a population of 3,573. History Early history Close to Passo Corese is the site of Cures Sabinorum, also ca ...

and

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the Archdiocese of Havana. He studied at the Seminary of Santiago de Cuba. He was then transferred to the Seminario Mayor Interdiocesano de San Cristóbal de La Habana, where he studied philosophy and theology. He continued his studies in Rome at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

. In 1974 entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

. He was ordained a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest on December 26, 1976. From 1980 to 1986 he was assigned as a priest to in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

and

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

. He again went to Rome for more studies and returned to Cuba assigned to the Archdiocese of Havana. He was appointed Titular Bishop of Passo Corese and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Havana on December 3, 2005, and was consecrated a bishop on January 14, 2006, at the

Cathedral of Havana Havana Cathedral (''Catedral de la Purísima Concepción de María'') is one of eleven Catholic cathedrals on the island. It is located in the Plaza de la Catedral on Calle Empedrado, between San Ignacio y Mercaderes, Old Havana, Havana, Cuba. Th ...

Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino (18 October 1936 – 26 July 2019) was a Cuban prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archdiocese of Havana, Archbishop of Havana from 1981 to 2016. He was appointed to the College of Cardinals in 1994, the se ...

, Cardinal Archbishop of Havana assisted by Mons. Emilio Aranguren-Echevarria, Bishop of

Diocese of Holguín In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

and Mons. Hector Luis Lucas Pena-Gomez

Bishop Emeritus In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the c ...

of Holguín.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy bio

1948 births Living people People from Holguín 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cuba Cuban Jesuits Jesuit bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Havana Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI 20th-century Cuban Roman Catholic priests {{Cuba-RC-bishop-stub