Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel

Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel (b. 1. May, 1940, [ Chiltepec {coatepec harinas} mexico^[1]]]) is a Mexican Roman Catholic prelate serving as bishop of Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, in the Archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. From 1991 to 2000 he was Bishop of Tapachula, Chiapas, where he was succeeded by Rogelio Cabrera López.^[2] Ordained as a priest in 1963 he celebrated his 50th anniversary of priesthood in 2013.^[3] He became Bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, following the resignation of Bishop Samuel Ruiz, a social progressive who had defended the rights of the indigenous peoples and of the Zapatista rebels. Arizmendi consistently defended Ruiz against his many critics. Arizmendi has a reputation for being theologically conservative but socially progressive.^[4] In 2012 he announced that he would be organizing efforts to translate the Catholic mass and the Bible into the indigenous language Nahuatl.^[5]

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