Konigstein, Germany, Oct 10, 2008 / 12:46 am (CNA).- The Holy See has named Chilean priest Father Joaquin Alliende-Luco the new leader of Aid to the Church in Need.

Father Alliende-Luco, a member of the Schoenstatt movement, was the International Ecclesiastic Assistant for ACN since 1999, and since 1978, he has been a consulter for theological issues as a member of the ACN’s General Council.

Father Joaquín Alliende-Luco was born in Santiago, Chile, and was ordained a priest in 1961.  He has also participated as an expert theologian in the preparations for the last three General Conferences of the Latin American Bishops’ Council.

ACN said he is known “not only as a theologian, but also as a poet. He has published more than ten volumes of poetry and has written several Mass booklets for orchestras and cantatas. For World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, he composed a musical entitled Pelican – In Your Hands, about the martyrs of the 20th century.”

The former president of ACN, Swiss Father Hans-Peter Rothlin, ended his three-year term of service and explained that the new president would continue carrying on the organization’s mission in unity and creative fidelity to the founder, Father Werenfried van Straaten, who died in 2003.

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