Juan Sandoval Íñiguez (; born 28 March 1933) is a Mexican retired prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who served as the Archbishop of Guadalajara from 1994 to 2011. He was made a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1994.

Ecclesiastical career

He is a son of Esteban Sandoval Ruiz and María Guadalupe Íñiguez de Sandoval, and is the eldest of 12 brothers and sisters, of whom 2 died as infants and another was killed. Sandoval entered the seminary in 1945 and then went to Rome where he continued his studies. He was ordained a priest in Rome in 1957. In 1961, he returned to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and was assigned to the seminary in

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, where he worked first as a teacher and then as rector. In 1988 Sandoval was named

Coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua Ciudad () is the Spanish word for "city". Ciudad or La Ciudad may also refer to: * La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona * La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico * ''La ciudad'', a novel by Mario Levrero publi ...

, and succeeded as its bishop in 1992. He was invested as Archbishop of Guadalajara in April 1994, replacing the murdered former incumbent, Cardinal

Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo (11 November 1926 – 24 May 1993) was an archbishop of the Catholic Church in Mexico who served as the eighth archbishop of the see of Guadalajara and as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Posadas Ocampo was ...

, and later that year he was named a cardinal. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the

2005 papal conclave A papal conclave was held on 18 and 19 April 2005 to elect a new pope to succeed John Paul II, who had died on 2 April 2005. Of the 117 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended. On the fourth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Josep ...

that elected

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

. Cardinal Sandoval has also made regular appearances on the Mexican Catholic network "Mariavisión", which is based in Guadalajara, normally by teaching the catechism during short episodes between regular programming. On 7 December 2011 his retirement was accepted by

; Cardinal

Francisco Robles Ortega Francisco Robles Ortega (; born 2 March 1949) is a Mexican prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Archbishop of Guadalajara since 2012 and a cardinal since 2007. He was archbishop of Monterrey from 2003 to 2011. He was president of the ...

was appointed his successor. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the

2013 papal conclave A papal conclave was held on 12 and 13 March 2013 to elect a new pope to succeed Benedict XVI, who had resigned on 28 February 2013. Of the 117 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2013 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. On th ...

that elected

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 ...

. In August 2023,Cardinal Brandmüller, along with Cardinals Burke, Íñiguez,

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch, prophet, and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woma ...

, and

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

, submitted another list of five '' dubia'' to Pope Francis related to the upcoming Synod on Synodality. The ''Dubia'' questioned the necessity of the upcoming synod, asked whether the blessing of same-sex unions was theologically admissible, and questioned the Pope's claim that "forgiveness is a human right". Sandoval, has also been a strong supporter of the

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...

, and in 2024, called on Pope Francis not to further restrict its use.

Political controversy

Sandoval has intervened in political issues at the national level. He has organized opposition to the use of condoms, sex education, emergency contraceptive pills. In August 2010 he entered the debate on the legalisation of

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

in Mexico by accusing justices of the Mexican Supreme Court of having accepted bribes from the

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (, , PRD) is a state-level social democracy, social democratic political party in Mexico (previously national, until 2024). The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 198 ...

(PRD) and the PRD mayor of Mexico City,

Marcelo Ebrard Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón (; born 10 October 1959) is a Mexicans, Mexican politician who has served as the Secretariat of Economy, secretary of economy since 2024. He previously served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Mexico), Secretary of ...

, to uphold the Mexico City statute that legalises both gay marriage and gay adoption of children. Ebrard filed suit against him in the civil courts in Mexico City for defamation after Sandoval refused to retract his comments. He has made several controversial statements. He has said, "To be a Protestant, one cannot have any shame"; and on women rape victims he has been quoted as saying: "Women should not go around being so provocative; because of this there are so many rapes." He has been criticised by gay rights groups for using the term "maricón" (Spanish equivalent to "fag") to describe homosexuals, which is regarded as insulting. In 2015, following the legalization of

same-sex marriage in Mexico Same-sex marriage is legally recognized and performed throughout Mexico since 2022. On 10 August 2010 the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ruled that same-sex marriages performed anywhere within Mexico must be recognized by the 31 states ...

, Sandoval, along with Archbishop Carlos Cabrero and the Spanish exorcist José Antonio Fortea, performed a mass exorcism against "abortion, Satanism, corruption, the cult of 'holy' death and the legalization of sexual aberrations."

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

placed a warning screen over a chat by Sandoval Iñiguez on 12 January,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, in which he claimed

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

s contain a satanic microchip. Cardinal Íñiguez was admitted to hospital on 3 February 2021 after suffering heart failure but according to the archdiocese he has since recovered.

References

External links and additional sources

* (for Chronology of Bishops) * (for Chronology of Bishops) *
Archdiocese of Guadalajara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandoval Iniguez, Juan 1933 births Living people People from Yahualica, Jalisco Mexican anti-same-sex-marriage activists Mexican cardinals Roman Catholic archbishops of Guadalajara Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Members of the Pontifical Council for Culture