Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río

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Father Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río (b. 22 July 1957) is a Mexican Roman Catholic priest. He has been the Director General of the Catholic Order of the Legionaries of Christ since January 2005.

Father Álvaro Corcuera Martínez del Río was born on July 22nd, 1957, in Mexico City. His parents are Pablo L. Corcuera García Pimentel and Ana Francisca Martínez del Río Fernández de Henestrosa de Corcuera. He was baptized four days later at Christ the King and St. Monica Parish.

He studied at the Cumbres Institute (“Instituto Cumbres”) and was one of the founding students at the Legion of Christ’s Irish Institute in Mexico City.

In 1969, Álvaro traveled to Ireland along with a few other companions to form the founding group of the Legion's language academy now called Dublin Oak. It was during his stay in Dublin that he had his first inklings of a priestly vocation.

In 1981, recalling his stay in Dublin, he wrote: “The novices’ example, along with the unforgettable experience of being close to the founder [Father Marcial Maciel] and the other priests living there at the time, had a decisive impact on me. The opportunity to serve the different priests’ masses and above all just to be near the founder helped me to see with great enthusiasm the possibility of having Jesus Christ so close and giving him to others all over the world.”

On June 27th, 1971, Álvaro Corcuera became one of the founding members of the youth group of ECYD (Education, Culture and Youth Development).

Later he became a member of Regnum Christi, the lay movement affiliated with the Legion. Among other activities that year, he participated in the course organized by the Legion in Reajo del Roble (Madrid, Spain). It was here that he first thought of becoming a consecrated layman in Regnum Christi, a step he finally took on April 13th, 1975.

Seven years later, reflecting on his consecration, he said: “Joining Regnum Christi made me see that self-giving to Christ, wherever it might be, was the best gift that I could desire. Consecrated life was an experience that I could never completely assimilate because of its depth and greatness. It is a great gift.” In 1975, he began studying for a degree in educational sciences at Anahuac University (Universidad Anáhuac) in Mexico City, and graduated in 1979.

Álvaro and several other consecrated members of Regnum Christi volunteered as aides for Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Mexico in January of 1979.

In September of that same year, Álvaro joined the Legion of Christ as a novice. A year later, when asked about his motivation to make the decision, and he replied: “I discovered the main reason in the tabernacle, where you hear Christ’s call: “Come, follow me”. Leave everything and surrender yourself completely.”

He did his ecclesiastical studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (The Angelicum).

He was ordained a deacon in Rome, on June 29th, 1985, by Archbishop Santos Abril y Castelló, then apostolic nuncio to Bolivia. On Christmas Eve that same year he was ordained a priest in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Rome by Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, then prefect of the Vatican department now called the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Father Álvaro earned a licentiate degree in philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He served as rector of the Center for Higher Studies in Rome until his election as General Director of the Legion and the Regnum Christi.

He was the founding rector of the Regina Apostolorum University in Rome, from its establishment in September 1993 until the end of the 1999-2000 school year. During that period he served as secretary of the Committee of Rectors of the Pontifical Universities of Rome. On December 7th, 1999, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Anahuac University (Universidad Anáhuac) in Mexico City.

On April 20th, 2001, the Holy See appointed him a consulter to the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops. And on January 2005 he was elected General Director of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi by the Third Ordinary General Chapter of the Congregation.