Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva

The Most Reverend Mons. Don Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva (Río Gallegos, Argentina, April 12, 1968)  is the Argentine Roman Catholic Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He has been appointed as Metropolitan Archbishop and the Primate of Argentina since 2023. He replaced his predecessor, Mario Aurelio Poli, because of his resignation. Prior to that, he was the Bishop of Río Gallegos from 2019 to 2023 and the Auxiliary Bishop of Lomas de Zamora from 2017 to 2019. He is a prelate with advanced academic degrees in theology, law and canon law.

He was appointed Member of the Dicastery for Bishops of the Roman Curia in July 2021.

Biography
García Cuerva was born in Río Gallegos, on April 12, 1968. He studied philosophy and theology at the seminary of the diocese of San Isidro. He was ordained as a priest on 24 October 1997. He earned licentiate degrees in theology, with specialization in Church history and canon law, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina “Santa María de los Buenos Aires”, and get a qualification as a lawyer at the Universidad Católica de Salta (UCASAL) in Argentina.

He worked as parish vicar and parish priest of Nuestra Señora de la Cava in Beccar; parish priest of Santa Clara de Asís in Tigre; promotor of justice in the interdiocesan tribunal of San Isidro, Merlo-Moreno; vice president of diocesan Caritas; diocesan delegate for prison pastoral care, and chaplain of various penitentiaries of the province of Buenos Aires. On 20 November 2017 Pope Francis appointed him titular bishop of Lacubaza and auxiliary of Lomas de Zamora, receiving episcopal ordination on 3 March 2018. On 3 January 2019 Pope Francis appointed him as bishop of Río Gallegos. He is currently a member of the Dicastery for Bishops and deputy chair of the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care. In April 2023, he became Metropolitan Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Primate of Argentina.