José Luis Escobar Alas (born March 10, 1959) is the eleventh Bishop and seventh Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador. He succeeds Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Sáenz Lacalle in that position, and holds the post once held by Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980.
When Archbishop Escobar was appointed on December 27, 2008, he was the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Vicente, El Salvador. He had been bishop of San Vicente since 2005, and auxiliary bishop (also of San Vicente) since 2002. He was ordained a priest in 1982. Escobar was born in the town of Suchitoto in the department of Cuzcatlán. He studied for the priesthood at the San José de la Montaña seminary in San Salvador and in the Major Seminary in Morelia, Mexico. He obtained a degree in philosophy at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a priest on August 15, 1982.[1]
Thereafter, he served as rector of the minor diocesan seminary in San Vicente. He has also taught at the San José de la Montaña seminary in San Salvador. He was in charge of the Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar) parish in San Vicente. He was vicar general of the diocese of San Vicente before being named auxiliary bishop by Pope John Paul II on January 19, 2002. He was created an auxiliary bishop on March 23, 2002 and then was made the diocesan bishop of San Vicente on July 9, 2005, which was the post he had held until being named for his current post as Archbishop of San Salvador.
| Preceded by Fernando Sáenz Lacalle |
Archbishop of San Salvador 2008– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |