The Salesian Cardinals

Don Bosco’s Sons Who Became Cardinals

Abp. Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga

(ANS – Rome – Sept. 21, 2023) – Salesian, bishop, and pastor among the best known internationally, Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga is the 10th Salesian to have received the call to serve the Church with the office of cardinal. A multifaceted and talented character, known for his commitment to fighting inequality, he is also one of Pope Francis’s confidants.

Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga was born in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, on December 29, 1942, and knew the Salesians from an early age, completing his elementary and secondary studies at the San Miguel Salesian school in his city. He then did his novitiate in Ayagualo, El Salvador, in 1960-1961 and made his first Salesian profession there on May 3, 1961. He was first an elementary teacher in El Salvador, then a teacher of physics and mathematics, natural sciences, and chemistry; he graduated in philosophy from the Fr. Rua Institute in El Salvador in 1965.

Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga was born in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, on December 29, 1942, and knew the Salesians from an early age, completing his elementary and secondary studies at the San Miguel Salesian school in his city. He then did his novitiate in Ayagualo, El Salvador, in 1960-1961 and made his first Salesian profession there on May 3, 1961. He was first an elementary teacher in El Salvador, then a teacher of physics and mathematics, natural sciences, and chemistry; he graduated in philosophy from the Fr. Rua Institute in El Salvador in 1965.

Over those years he also deepened his passion for music, studying piano at the San Salvador Conservatory between 1960 and 1963, and studying harmony and composition in Guatemala and Newton, N.J., between 1967 and 1970.

At the same time, his vocation continued to grow: on May 3, 1967, in Guatemala he made his perpetual profession; and then, after completing his theological studies at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, on June 28, 1970, he received priestly ordination, again in Guatemala.

Continuing his studies, he graduated in moral theology from the Lateran Pontifical University in 1974, and obtained a diploma in clinical psychology and psychotherapy in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1975.

After returning to his province of Central America, he taught for many years in different Salesian schools and formation houses in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, including the subjects of chemistry, music, physics, and theology. Appointed secretary of the School of Theology of Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala (1974-1976), he was then rector of the Salesian philosophical institute in Guatemala from 1975 to 1978.

He was appointed titular bishop of Pudenziana and auxiliary of Tegucigalpa on October 28, 1978, and received episcopal ordination in Tegucigalpa on December 8, 1978. A few years later he was also asked to work as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras, a position he held from 1981 to 1984.

Appointed archbishop of Tegucigalpa on January 8, 1993, he also received a second position on this occasion, as apostolic administrator of the diocese of San Pedro Sula, between 1993 and 1995.

At the level of the national Church, he was vice president of Caritas Honduras (1979-1988), and then secretary general (1980-1988) and president of the Episcopal Conference (1996-2016).

Also important was his service in the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), where he was a member of the Episcopal Commission of the Department of Education (1979-1981); delegate of the Episcopal Conference of Honduras (1979-1987); head of the Youth Ministry Section, (1981-1985); president of the Department of Consecrated Life (1985-1987); head of the Secretariat of Pastoral Work for Human Mobility (1987-1991); secretary general (1987-1991); president of the Economic Committee (1991-1995). He was president of CELAM from 1995 to 1999.

In recent years, through his public interventions, he has become known for his battles against drugs and corruption, as well as for his criticism of economic systems that result in exploitation and marginalization. Due to his constant attention to the social dimension of ecclesial ministry, he was also elected president of Caritas Internationalis, maintaining this position from 2007 to 2015.

He was created cardinal by Pope John Paul II on February 21, 2001, in a consistory that saw, among others, the choice of his confrere Antonio Ignacio Velasco as cardinal and also the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, today Pope Francis.

On April 13, 2013, Pope Francis appointed him a member, with the function of coordinator, of the Council of Cardinals, to assist him in the governance of the universal Church and to study a project to revise the apostolic constitution Pastor bonus on the Roman Curia. He held this position for 10 years, until the expiry of the Council’s mandate and after the effective enactment of a new apostolic constitution.

In the Curia he also served with many other positions, having been a member, over the years, of the Congregation for the Clergy, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Since January 26, 2023, he has been bishop emeritus of the archdiocese of Tegucigalpa.

(A long-time friend of the New Rochelle Province, he has celebrated ordinations for us on several occasions.)