AMERICA/BOLIVIA - Cardinal Terrazas has died, promoter of solidarity and peaceful coexistence in difficult times

Thursday, 10 December 2015 martyrs   bishops   local churches  

Santa Cruz (Agenzia Fides) - Bolivian Cardinal Julio Terrazas died yesterday, December 9, at 7.15 pm. This was communicated by the Archbishop of Santa Cruz, His Exc. Mgr. Sergio Gualberti, in a note sent to Fides: "Just one day after the Immaculate Conception, on the feast of our Patroness, Mother of Cotoca, on the day when Pope Francis inaugurated the Jubilee of Mercy, our Pastor, friend and faithful missionary disciple of the Lord, Cardinal Julio Terrazas was welcomed to the kingdom of the merciful Father".
Cardinal Terrazas was born in Vallegrande, in the eastern province of Santa Cruz, on March 7, 1936. A missionary of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (CSSR), he was ordained a priest in July 1962. He had studied theology and philosophy at the St. Alphonsus Redemptorist Institute in Cordoba, Argentina, and obtained a degree in social Pastoral in France. He was Bishop and Archbishop in the city of Oruro, La Paz and Santa Cruz. On 21 February 2001 Pope John Paul II named him Cardinal Primate. He was the President of the Episcopal Conference of Bolivia from 1985 to 2012.
He participated in the Conclave that elected the Pope, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. When he left the Archdiocese, Pope Francis sent him a letter in which he called him "Dear Brother" and thanked him "for the generous and competent commitment in the episcopal ministry, which gave wonderful fruits for the good of the holy people of God and also to increase solidarity and peaceful coexistence in this country, even in difficult times". (See Fides 28/05/2013). (CE) (Agenzia Fides 10/12/2015)


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