Luis José Rueda Aparicio (born 3 March 1962) is a Colombian Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Bogotá since 2020. He was previously Archbishop of Popayán from 2018 to 2020 and Bishop of Montelíbano from 2012 to 2018.

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 ...

made him 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 ...

on 30 September 2023.

Biography

Luis José Rueda Aparicio was born in

San Gil San Gil is a town and municipality in the Department of Santander in northeastern Colombia, located roughly 300 km (192 mi) from Bogotá and 95 km from the department's capital, Bucaramanga. As of 2020, San Gil had a population of 5 ...

, Santander, on 3 March 1962, the tenth of eleven siblings. Before deciding to become a priest he worked in construction alongside his father and managed a laboratory in a cement factory. He studied philosophy in the major seminary of Socorro y San Gil and theology in the major seminary of

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Socorro y San Gil on 23 November 1989. He earned a licentiate in moral theology at Rome's

Alphonsian Academy 150px, Alphonsus Liguori, whose teachings inspired the establishment of the Academy. The Pontifical Alphonsian Academy (; ), also commonly known as the Alphonsianum, is a pontifical institution of higher education founded in 1949 by the Redempt ...

. His pastoral assignments included parishes in Albania, Curití, Pinchote, Mogotes, and Barichara. He held several other positions in the administration of the diocese, taught at the seminary from 1994 to 1999, and became pastoral vicar of the diocese. On 2 February 2012,

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 ...

named him Bishop of Montelíbano. He received his episcopal consecration on 14 April in the Cathedral de La Santa Cruz in San Gil from

Aldo Cavalli Aldo Cavalli (born 18 October 1946) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1979 and served as an apostolic nuncio from 1996 to 2021. In November 2021 he became Apostolic Visitor to Medju ...

, Apostolic Nuncio to Colombia, and was installed on 28 April. In July 2017 he was elected President of the Episcopal Commission for Social and Charitable Pastoral Care. On 19 May 2018,

appointed him Archbishop of Popayán. He was installed there on 7 July. He received his

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : pallia) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolitan bish ...

, the symbol of his office as a metropolitan archbishop, from Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica on 29 June 2018. He dedicated the year 2020 as the archdiocese's "Year of Fraternity" to promote social solidarity and ecological conversion. On 25 April 2020, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Bogotá. He was installed there on 11 June. He has been an outspoken supporter of the peace agreement of 2016 between the government of Colombia and the FARC rebels and protested against the assassination of social leaders. On 9 July 2023, Pope Francis announced he plans to make him a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 30 September. At that consistory he was made cardinal priest of San Luca a Via Prenestina. On 23 October 2024, the Synod of Bishops elected him a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod. He participated as a

cardinal elector A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

in the

2025 papal conclave A conclave was held on 7 and 8 May 2025 to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis, Francis, who had died on 21 April 2025. Of the 135 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2025 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. Cardinal Piet ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIV Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the fir ...

. Rueda is the Grand Prior of the Colombia Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

References

External links

Rueda Aparicio Card. Luis José

Holy See Press Office The Holy See Press Office (; ) is the press office of the Holy See. It publishes the official news of the activities of the Pope and of the various departments of the Roman Curia. All speeches, messages and documents, as well as the statements ...

Archived
from the original on 3 October 2023

on Catholic Hierarchy * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rueda Aparicio, Luis José 20th-century Colombian Roman Catholic priests Alphonsian Academy alumni 1962 births Living people People from Santander Department Roman Catholic archbishops of Bogotá Roman Catholic bishops of Montelibano Roman Catholic archbishops of Popayán 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Colombia Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI Cardinals created by Pope Francis Colombian cardinals 21st-century cardinals Grand Priors of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre