Norberto Rivera Carrera

His Eminence Norberto Rivera Carrera
Cardinal, Archbishop of Mexico Primate of Mexico
Diocese	Mexico
Appointed	13 June 1995
Predecessor	Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada
Other posts	Cardinal-Priest of S. Francesco d'Assisi a Ripa Grande Member of Council for the Economy
Orders
Ordination	3 July 1966 by Pope Paul VI
Consecration	21 December 1985 by Antonio López Aviña
Created Cardinal	21 February 1998
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	(1942-06-06) 6 June 1942 La Purísima, Durango, Mexico
Nationality	Mexican
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post	Roman Catholic Bishop of Tehuacán (1985–1995)
Alma mater	Pontifical Gregorian University
Motto	Lumen Gentium
Coat of arms

Styles of Norberto Rivera Carrera
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Mexico

Norberto Rivera Carrera (born June 6, 1942 in La Purísima, Durango) is a Mexican Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current Archbishop of Mexico City and the current Primate Archbishop of Mexico, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1998.

Early life and ministry

Norberto Rivera Carrera was born in La Purísima, a small town outside Tepehuanes, to Ramón Rivera Cháidez and Soledad Carrera; he has a sister who is a nun. His father immigrated to and worked in the United States in order to support the family. Rivera entered the seminary of Durango in 1955. He later went to Rome to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University, from where he obtained his licentiate in theology. He was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Paul VI on July 3, 1966.

From 1967 to 1985, Rivera did pastoral work in Durango and Zacatecas, as well as serving as a professor of dogmatic theology and the prefect of discipline at the Durango seminary. He also directed Social Communications for the Archdiocese of Durango, was the diocesan advisor to the Christian Family Movement, and taught ecclesiology at the Pontifical University of Mexico from 1982 to 1985. While at the Pontifical University, he founded the Movement for the Days of Christian Life.

Episcopal career and cardinalate

On November 5, 1985, Rivera was appointed Roman Catholic Bishop of Tehuacán by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following December 21 from Archbishop Antonio López Aviña, with Archbishops Adolfo Suárez Rivera and Rosendo Huesca Pacheco serving as co-consecrators. During his tenure, he headed the Mexican Episcopal Conference's Commission for the Family (1989–1995) and the Family Section of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (1993–1995).

Rivera was later promoted to Archbishop of Mexico City, and thus de facto Primate Archbishop of Mexico, on June 13, 1995. John Paul II created him Cardinal-Priest of S. Francesco d'Assisi a Ripa Grande in the consistory of February 21, 1998. During his tenure, Juan Diego, to whom the iconic Our Lady of Guadalupe reportedly appeared, was canonized. Rivera was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave, which elected Pope Benedict XVI. He was suggested as a possible choice as pope.^[1]

Within the Latin American Episcopal Conference, Rivera served as President of the Episcopal Committee of Culture from 2004 to 2006. He also holds membership in the Pontifical Council for the Family, Congregation for the Clergy, and Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Roman Curia.

Rivera Carrera is seen as a strong advocate of social justice: his criticism of globalization and political corruption so annoyed Mexico's Salinas government that it threatened to adopt a law forbidding priests from commenting on politics.

Rivera Carrera is seen as a conservative on virtually all church matters. In 1990, as Bishop of Tehuacán, he closed a seminary that he charged was teaching "Marxist" theology; in 1996, he forced the resignation of the abbot of the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe after questioning the historical truth of Mary's appearance to Juan Diego.^[2] Rivera is known for his opposition to abortion and artificial birth control and for his insistence on strict church discipline.^[3]

During the Supreme Court of Mexico's debate on legalizing abortion, it was reported in a Catholic News Agency online article on September 27, 2011: "Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City underscored that ;abortion is never a solution' for anything". These comments came as the Supreme Court prepared to deliberate on a ruling proposed by Justice Fernando Franco that would overturn anti-abortion constitutional amendments enacted in numerous Mexican states.

"The Church always reaches out to pregnant women who are being pressured at work, by family members or friends to remind each one of them of the great value of motherhood", the cardinal said on Sept. 25. He noted that at a meeting in Monterrey, the Mexican bishops emphasized that the “taking of human life through the various abortifacient techniques must not be tolerated, and the taking of the life a human being, even in its initial phases, is not licit.”^[4]

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.

On March 8, 2014, he was named by Pope Francis to serve as a Cardinal Member of the newly established Council for Economic Affairs, which oversees the work of the new Secretariat for the Economy, an agency which has financial regulatory authority over all departments of the Roman Curia.^[5]

References

External links

• Holy See Press Office: Norberto Rivera Carrera