MEXICAN CARDINAL JAVIER LOZANO BARRAGÁN DIES

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, 89, passed away on the morning of Wednesday, April 20, in the city of Rome, where he lived.

Cardinal Lozano Barragán was born on January 26, 1933 in Toluca (Mexico). According to Vatican News, Cardinal Lozano Barragán made his First Communion in the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, where he was also ordained Bishop and celebrated his first mass as Cardinal.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán was President Emeritus of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care and Archbishop Emeritus of Zacatecas (Mexico).

He was created a cardinal by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2003 and participated in the April 2005 Conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

With the death of Cardinal Lozano Barragán, the College of Cardinals is made up of 210 cardinals, of which 117 are electors and 93 non-electors.

From Vatican News they highlight that as Bishop he had to live moments of coldness between the civil government and the leaders of the Church. He strongly supported the legal recognition of the Church in Mexico, which had seemed unthinkable shortly before.

Cardinal Lozano Barragán was trained in the diocesan seminary of Zamora, Michoacán, (Mexico), later he obtained a licentiate and a doctorate in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He was ordained a priest in October 1955 and taught Dogmatic Theology, History of Philosophy at the diocesan seminary.

He was president of the Mexican Theological Society, Director of the CELAM Pastoral Theological Institute and participated in the Episcopal Conference of Puebla in 1979.
In 1979 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Mexico City. He founded the Pontifical University of Mexico.

Later he was Bishop of the Diocese of Zacatecas (Mexico). In 1988 he became a member of the Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers, which later became the Pontifical Council for Culture.

In 1989 he was a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and in 1997 he was appointed Counselor of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

He held various positions within CELAM. And in January 2000 he became a member of the Congregation for Bishops.

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