Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Asunción

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Blessed Assumption (Archidioecesis Sanctissimae Assumptionis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Paraguay.

It was created as the Diocese of Paraguay by Pope Paul III on July 1, 1547, and was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Pius XI on May 1, 1929, with the suffragan sees of Benjamín Aceval, Caacupé, Carapeguá, Ciudad del Este, Concepción, Coronel Oviedo, Encarnación, San Juan Bautista de las Misiones, San Lorenzo, San Pedro, and Villarrica del Espíritu Santo.

The archdiocese's mother church and thus seat of its archbishop is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. As the only metropolitan in Paraguay, it is the principal episcopal see of that country. the Archbishop of Asunción was Eustaquio Cuquejo Verga, CSSR, having been appointed by Pope John Paul II on June 15, 2002. On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI, appointed Bishop Edmundo Valenzuela, S.D.B., as Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese. Until then he had served as Vicar Apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of Chaco Paraguayo, with the ecclesiastical rank of Bishop (Vicariates Apostolic are a type of jurisdiction that rank below a diocese). He was born in Villarrica of Espiritu Santo, Paraguay, on November 19, 1944. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 3, 1971, as a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He received a licentiate in theology from the Salesian University in Rome. At one time, he was a missionary in Angola (1991–2006). On February 13, 2006, he was named Titular Bishop of Uzal and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Chaco, Paraguay, receiving episcopal ordination on April 22, 2006. As part of the Episcopal Conference of Paraguay, he serves as Chairman of the Commission for Catholic Education. The archdiocese has 1.58 million Catholics (90.6%) in 2012.

Archbishop Valenzuela succeeded to the see on November 6, 2014.

Ordinaries
Erected: 1 July 1547 Latin Name: de Paraguay
 * Diocese of Paraguay
 * 1) Juan de los Barrios, O.F.M. (1547–1552), appointed Bishop of Santa Marta, Colombia
 * 2) Pedro de la Torre, O.F.M. (1554–1573)
 * 3) Alfonso Guerra (bishop), O.P. (1579–1592), appointed Bishop of Michoacán, México
 * 4) Thomas Vásquez de Liaño (1596–1599)
 * 5) Martín Ignacio de Loyola (1601–1608)
 * 6) Reginaldo de Lizárraga, O.P. (1609)
 * 7) Lorenzo Pérez de Grado (1615–1619), appointed Bishop of Cuzco, Peru
 * 8) Tomás de la Torre Gibaja, O.P. (1620–1628), appointed Bishop of Córdoba (Tucumán), Argentina
 * 9) Cristóbal de Aresti Martínez de Aguilar, O.S.B. (1629–1635), appointed Bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina
 * 10) Francisco de la Serna, O.E.S.A. (1635–1638), appointed Bishop of Popayán, Colombia
 * 11) Bernardino de Cárdenas Ponce, O.F.M. (1640–1666), appointed Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
 * 12) Gabriel de Guilléstegui, O.F.M. (1666–1670), appointed Bishop of La Paz, Bolivia
 * 13) Ferdinandus de Valcácer (1672)
 * 14) Faustino Casas Hernández, O. de M. (1674–1686)
 * 15) Sebastián de Pastrana, O. de M. (1693–1700)
 * 16) Pedro Díaz de Durana (1704–1718)
 * 17) José Luis Palos Bord, O.F.M. (1724–1738)
 * 18) José Cayetano Paravicino, O.F.M. (1738–1747), appointed Bishop of Trujillo, Peru
 * 19) Bernardo José Pérez de Oblitas (1747–1756), appointed Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
 * 20) Manuel Antonio de la Torre (1756–1762), appointed Bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina
 * 21) Emmanuel López de Espinosa (1762–1770)
 * 22) Juan José Priego y Caro, O.P. (1772–1779)
 * 23) Luis Velasco y Maeda, O.F.M. (1779–1792)
 * 24) Lorenzo Suarez de Cantillana (1797–1799)
 * 25) Nicolás Videla del Pino (1802–1806), appointed Bishop of Salta, Argentina
 * 26) Pedro García de Panés, O.F.M. (1807–1838)
 * 27) Basilio López (1844–1859)
 * 28) Juan Gregorio Urbieta (1860–1865)
 * 29) Manuel Antonio Palacios (1865–1868)
 * 30) Pietro Giovanni Aponte (1879–1891)
 * 31) Juan Sinforiano Bogarín (1894–1949)

Elevated: 1 May 1929 Latin Name: Sanctissimae Assumptionis
 * Archdiocese of Asunción


 * 1) Juan José Aníbal Mena Porta (1949–1970)
 * 2) Ismael Blas Rolón Silvero, S.D.B. (1970–1989)
 * 3) Felipe Santiago Benítez Ávalos (1989–2002)
 * 4) Pastor Cuquejo, C.S.S.R. (2002–2014)
 * 5) Edmundo Valenzuela, S.D.B. (2014– )

Coadjutor bishops

 * Martín de Sarricolea y Olea (1720), did not take effect
 * José Luis Palos Bord, O.F.M. (1721–1724)
 * Manuel Antonio Palacios (1863–1865)
 * Juan José Aníbal Mena Porta (1941–1949)
 * Edmundo Ponziano Valenzuela Mellid, S.D.B. (2011–2014)

Auxiliary bishops

 * Marco Antonio Maiz (1844–1848)
 * Juan Gregorio Urbieta (1856–1860), appointed Bishop here
 * Juan José Aníbal Mena Porta (1936–1941), appointed Coadjutor here
 * Ramón Pastor Bogarín Argaña (1954–1957), appointed Bishop of San Juan Bautista de las Misiones
 * Aníbal Maricevich Fleitas (1957–1965), appointed Bishop of Concepción y Chaco
 * Felipe Santiago Benitez Avalos (1961–1965), appointed	Bishop of Villarrica (later returned here as Archbishop)
 * Julio Benigno Laschi González (1965–1969)
 * Juan Moleón Andreu (1967–1972), appointed Bishop of Paraguay, Military
 * Jorge Adolfo Carlos Livieres Banks (1976–1987), appointed Prelate of Encarnación
 * Eustaquio Pastor Cuquejo Verga, C.SS.R. (1982–1992), appointed Bishop of Paraguay, Military (later returned here as Archbishop)
 * Claudio Giménez Medina, P. Schönstatt (1991–1995), appointed Bishop of Caacupé
 * Ricardo Jorge Valenzuela Rios (1993–2003), appointed Bishop of Paraguay, Military
 * Adalberto Martínez Flores (1997–2000), appointed Bishop of San Lorenzo

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

 * Juan González Melgarejo, appointed Bishop of Santiago de Chile in 1743
 * Joaquín Hermes Robledo Romero (priest here, 1975–2000), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Carapeguá in 2009