Pope names Bishop J.A. Eguren Archbishop of Piura and Tumbes

July, 11 (NE - eclesiales.org) The Holy See announced today that Bishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi, of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, has been named Archbishop of Piura and Tumbes by Pope Benedict XVI.

After having participated in the International Theological Pastoral Congress for Families which took place from July 4 – 7 in Valencia, Bishop Eguren, along with more than 50 cardinals and around 450 bishops from around the world, accompanied Pope Benedict XVI in the Fifth World Meeting of Families, attended by more than one and a half million people.

On July 9, 25 years ago, the now Bishop made his perpetual profession in the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. Sunday July 9, 25 years later, he celebrated his Silver Anniversary as a professed Sodalit by participating alongside the Holy Father in the celebration of the Holy Mass for the closure of the multitudinous event for the reaffirmation of the family.

The Sodalitium press office had announced that the then Auxiliary Bishop of Lima would preside a Mass of thanksgiving for his vocation and his 25 years as a professed Sodalit together with the Sodalit Family in Rome this Tuesday July 11 in the evening. The celebration had been organized by the Sodalit communities of consecrated life which carry out their pastoral work in Rome. But the Holy See's announcement of Bishop Eguren's appointment to the Archbishopric of Piura and Tumbes in the northern Peruvian coast has made this evening's Mass an occasion to thank God for the Holy Father's new appointment and receive the Archbishop Elect.

Biographical Information of Bishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi, SCV, Archbishop Elect of Piura and Tumbes

Bishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi was born in the city of Lima on June 14, 1956. He attended school at Inmaculado Corazón and later in Colegio Santa María. He was admitted to the Pontifical Catholic University of Lima where he studied Letters. During this time he also entered the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, becoming one of the members of the founding generation of this Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right. He later studied philosophy and theology in the Pontifical and Civil faculty of Theology of Lima. In 1982 he was resident in the Major Bolivarian Seminary of Medellín, in Colombia, where he undertook a specialization in Spirituality and Liturgy in the Theological Pastoral Institute of CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Conference).

On July 9, 1981 he made his perpetual commitment of full apostolic availability in the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. He was ordained a priest by the then Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Landázuri Ricketts, on December 12, 1982. He was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Lima until February 2001, when Pope John Paul II granted the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae the faculty to incardinate its own priests.

Following his priestly ordination Bishop Eguren worked in spiritual and apostolic animation in the Sodalitium. From 1985 to 1989 he served as Secretary for the Liturgical Commission of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.

From December 1991 to February 2002 he was the Pastor of “Our Lady of Reconciliation” parish, in Lima. In November of 2000 he was named Episcopal Vicar, made the archdiocesan overseer of Apostolic Movements and a member of the College of Consulters for the Archdiocese of Lima.

On February 16, 2002 the now Servant of God John Paul II named him Titular Bishop of Castello di Ripa and Auxiliary of Lima.

On April 7, 2002 he received his Episcopal Ordination from the hands of Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne in the Cathedral Basilica of Lima.

As auxiliary bishop he has been responsible for the 3rd Episcopal Vicariate, placed in charge of Ecclesial Movements and of the Pastoral Office among various other pastoral responsibilities.

He is currently the President of the Commission for the Family and the Defense of Life in the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.

Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi, SCV, Archbishop of Piura and Tumbes on July 11, 2006.

More information at http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/begua.html