Rodolfo Quezada Toruño | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal,Archbishop emeritus of Guatemala City | |
 | |
| See | Guatemala City |
| Installed | 15 July 2003 |
| Predecessor | Próspero Penados del Barrio |
| Successor | Oscar Julio Vian Morales,S.D.B. |
| Other posts |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 21 September 1956 |
| Consecration | 13 May 1972 |
| Created cardinal | 21 October 2003 byJohn Paul II |
| Rank | Cardinal Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1932-03-08)8 March 1932 Guatemala City, Guatemala |
| Died | 4 June 2012(2012-06-04) (aged 80) Guatemala City, Guatemala |
| Styles of Rodolfo Quezada Toruño | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Guatemala City (emeritus) |
Rodolfo Ignacio Quezada Toruño (8 March 1932 – 4 June 2012) was aGuatemalan Catholic prelate who served asArchbishop of Santiago de Guatemala from 2003 to 2010. He previously served asBishop of Zacapa y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas from 1980 to 2001. He was elevated to thecardinalate in 2003.
The oldest of three children, Quezada was born inGuatemala City to René Quezada Alejos and Clemencia Toruño Lizarralde.[1] After studying philosophy at theSeminary ofSan José inEl Salvador, he earned aLicentiate in Theology from theUniversity of Innsbruck in Austria in 1959 and aDoctorate in Canon Law from thePontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1962. Quezada wasordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Mariano Rossell y Arellano on 21 September 1956.[2] He served asparochial vicar ofEl Sagrario,rector ofBeatas di Belén, university chaplain as well as vice-chancellor of theArchdiocese of Guatemala City.[3] He was the first rector of the National Major Seminary of the Assumption inGuatemala, and namedChaplain of His Holiness on 18 August 1968. He also taughtcanon law at the Salesian Theological Institute andRafael Landívar University, and ethics at theUniversity of San Carlos of Guatemala.[1]
On 5 April 1972, Quezada was appointedAuxiliary Bishop ofZacapa andTitular Bishop ofGadiaufala byPope Paul VI.[2] He received hisepiscopal consecration on the following 13 May from ArchbishopGirolamo Prigione, with Bishops Costantino Luna Pianegonda,O.F.M., and José Pellecer Samayoa serving asco-consecrators, in themetropolitan cathedral of Santiago.[1] He was namedCoadjutor Bishop of Zacapa on 11 September 1975, and later succeeded Bishop Luna Pianegonda asBishop of Zacapa on 16 February 1980.[2] When theTerritorial Prelature of Santo Cristo de Esquípulas was merged with his East Guatemalan diocese on 24 June 1986, he became known as Bishop of Zacapa y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas. He served as President of the GuatemalanEpiscopal Conference from 1988 to 1992, and again from 2002 to 2006.[3]
Quezada became a national hero by helping to bring to an end thecivil war that devastated his country for 36 years.[1][4] He led two organizations that played important roles in forming a peace agreement: the National Reconciliation Commission, which he headed from 1987 to 1993, and the Assembly of the Civil Society, which he headed from 1994 to 1996.[4] He was also the official conciliator between thegovernment and theguerrillas of theNational Revolutionary Unit (1990–1994). His assistant in the peace process, BishopJuan Gerardi, was murdered in April 1998.[1]
On 19 June 2001, Quezada was promoted toArchbishop of Guatemala City byPope John Paul II.[2] He was createdCardinal-Priest ofSan Saturnino in theconsistory of 21 October 2003.[4] He was one of thecardinal electors who participated in the2005 papal conclave that selectedPope Benedict XVI. Within theRoman Curia, he was a member of thePontifical Council for Culture and thePontifical Commission for Latin America.[3]
His resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 4 October 2010, when he was succeeded as Metropolitan Archbishop of Guatemala by ArchbishopOscar Julio Vian Morales,S.D.B., who until then had been Archbishop of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango-Totonicapan, also in Guatemala. Cardinal Quezada was then referred to as Archbishop Emeritus of the see. On 8 March 1992, he reached age 80 and ceased to be a cardinal elector.[citation needed]
Cardinal Quezada Toruño died the morning of 4 June 2012 at a private hospital in Guatemala City due to complications of a bowel obstruction.[5]
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