Tyler, Texas, Jul 6, 2011 / 10:17 am
Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio of Tyler, Texas as bishop of the Diocese of Mayaguez on Puerto Rico’s west coast.
Bishop Corrada, a Jesuit, was born in the Santurce district of the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan on May 13, 1942. He is the seventh of 14 siblings.
He was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Washington in 1985, becoming the first Puerto Rican native to be named a bishop for the U.S. mainland, according to the U.S. bishops’ conference. He served as apostolic administrator of Caguas, Puerto Rico in 1997 and was named Bishop of Tyler in 2000.
Bishop Corrada succeeds Bishop Ulises Aurelio Casiano Vargas, whose retirement-age resignation Pope Benedict has accepted.