Adolfo Cardinal Suárez Rivera
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Adolfo Antonio Cardinal Suárez Rivera (born 9 January 1927) is a Cardinal Priest in the Roman Catholic Church and currently holds the rank of Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Monterrey.
Born in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, Suárez Rivera studied classical literature at the conciliar seminary of Chiapas in San Cristóbal, and then philosophy at the archdiocesan seminary of Xalapa and the Pontifical Seminary of Montezuma in Montezuma, New Mexico, in the United States. After these studies, he completed a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Ordained a priest in 1952, Suárez Rivera worked for about 10 years as a professor of classical literature and philosophy at the diocesan seminary of San Cristóbal de las Casas, then was a department head and secretary in the Archdiocesan Curia. He advised the Christian Family Movement and helped found the Union for Mutual Episcopal Aid in the 1960s and 1970s, in addition to serving as a parish priest.
In 1971, Suárez Rivera was named Bishop of Tepic, and then in 1983, Archbishop of Monterrey. From 1979 to 1983, he served as an adjunct member of the Congregation for Bishops, and he was a delegate to the 1983 Sixth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Reconciliation and Penance.
Suárez Rivera was appointed Archbishop of Monterrey on 8 November 1983 and held the post for twenty years, until 25 January 2003. He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of 26 November 1994, and given the title of Cardinal Priest of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Monte Mario.
Although eligible to vote in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, Suárez Rivera was one of only two cardinal electors unable to attend due to medical reasons (the other being Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Philippines).
