Juan Sandoval Íñiguez (; born 28 March 1933 in Yahualica de González Gallo,

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal ...

, Mexico) is a

cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Co ...

, and served as Archbishop of Guadalajara.

Ecclesiastical career

He is a son of Esteban Sandoval Ruiz and María Guadalupe Íñiguez de Sandoval, and is the eldest of 12 brothers and sisters, of whom 2 died as infants and another was killed. Sandoval entered the seminary in 1945 and then went to Rome where he continued his studies. He was ordained a priest in Rome in 1957. In 1961, he returned to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and was assigned to the seminary in

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

, where he worked first as a teacher and then as rector. In 1988 Sandoval was named

Coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co- ...

Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua Ciudad () is the Spanish word for City Ciudad may also refer to: *La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona *La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico *''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970 *La Ciudad ''The City'' ...

, and succeeded as its bishop in 1992. He was invested as Archbishop of Guadalajara in April 1994, replacing the murdered former incumbent, Cardinal

Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo (11 November 1926 – 24 May 1993) was an Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Mexico who served as the eighth archbishop of the see of Guadalajara and as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Posadas Ocampo was ...

, and later that year he was named a cardinal. He was one of the

cardinal electors A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

who participated in the

2005 papal conclave The 2005 papal conclave was convened to elect a new pope following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005. After his death, the cardinals of the Catholic Church who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave to ele ...

that elected

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

. Cardinal Sandoval has also made regular appearances on the Mexican Catholic network "Mariavisión", which is based in Guadalajara, normally by teaching the catechism during short episodes between regular programming. On 7 December 2011 his retirement was accepted by

; Cardinal

Francisco Robles Ortega Francisco Robles Ortega (; born 2 March 1949) is a Mexican prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal since 2007. He is the Archbishop of Guadalajara. Cardinal Robles had previously served as archbishop of Monterrey from 2003 to 2011. He is a ...

was appointed his successor. He was one of the

who participated in the

2013 papal conclave The 2013 papal conclave was convened to elect a pope to succeed Pope Benedict XVI following his resignation on 28 February 2013. After the 115 participating cardinal-electors gathered, they set 12 March 2013 as the beginning of the conclave. ...

that elected

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

Political controversy

Sandoval has intervened in political issues at the national level. He has organized opposition to the use of condoms, sex education, emergency contraceptive pills. In August 2010 he entered the debate on the legalisation of

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constitutin ...

in Mexico by accusing justices of the Mexican Supreme Court of having accepted bribes from the

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, es, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, ) is a social democratic political party in Mexico. The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institu ...

(PRD) and the PRD mayor of Mexico City,

Marcelo Ebrard Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón (; born 10 October 1959) is a Mexican politician who is serving as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. Affiliated with the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) since 2018, he was appointed to lead the f ...

, to uphold the Mexico City statute that legalises both gay marriage and gay adoption of children. Ebrard filed suit against him in the civil courts in Mexico City for defamation after Sandoval refused to retract his comments. He has made several controversial statements. He has said, "To be a Protestant, one cannot have any shame"; and on women rape victims he has been quoted as saying: "Women should not go around being so provocative; because of this there are so many rapes." He has been criticised by gay rights groups for using the term "maricón" (Spanish equivalent to "fag") to describe homosexuals, which is regarded as insulting. In 2015, following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Mexico, Sandoval, along with Archbishop Carlos Cabrero and the Spanish exorcist José Antonio Fortea, performed a mass exorcism against "abortion, Satanism, corruption, the cult of 'holy' death and the legalization of sexual aberrations."

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

placed a warning screen over a rambling chat by Sandoval Iñiguez on 12 January,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, in which he claimed

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

s contain a satanic microchip. Cardinal Íñiguez was admitted to hospital on 3 February 2021 after suffering heart failure but according to the archdiocese he has since recovered.

References

External links and additional sources

* (for Chronology of Bishops) * (for Chronology of Bishops) *
Archdiocese of Guadalajara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandoval Iniguez, Juan 1933 births Living people People from Yahualica, Jalisco Mexican anti-same-sex-marriage activists Mexican cardinals Roman Catholic archbishops of Guadalajara Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Members of the Pontifical Council for Culture