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Antonio Maria Rouco Varela

His Eminence
Antonio Rouco Varela
Cardinal, Archbishop emeritus of Madrid
Mons. Rouco Varela (30612834540).jpg
Antonio María Rouco Varela during Palm Sunday celebrations in Madrid in 2014
Archdiocese Madrid
Appointed 28 July 1994
Term ended 28 August 2014
Predecessor Angel Suquía Goicoechea
Successor Carlos Osoro Sierra
Other posts Cardinal-Priest of San Lorenzo in Damaso
President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference
Orders
Ordination 28 March 1959
by Angel Suquía Goicoechea
Consecration 31 October 1976
by Maximino Romero de Lema
Created Cardinal 21 February 1998
Rank Cardinal Priest
Personal details
Birth name Antonio María Rouco Varela
Born (1936-08-20) 20 August 1936 (age 80)
Vilalba, Galicia, Spanish Republic
Nationality Spanish
Denomination Roman Catholicism
Parents
  • Vicente Rouco
  • María Eugenia Varela
Previous post
Motto In ecclesiae communione
Coat of arms {{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}
Styles of
Antonio Rouco Varela
Coat of arms of Antonio Maria Rouco Varela.svg
Reference style His Eminence
Spoken style Your Eminence
Informal style Cardinal
See Madrid

Antonio María Rouco Varela (born 20 August 1936) is a Spanish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and a prominent member of its conservative wing. He served as Archbishop of Madrid from 1994 to 2014. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1998.

Antonio Rouco Varela was born in Vilalba to Vicente Rouco and María Eugenia Varela, the latter of whom hailed from Bahía Blanca, Argentina. He has four siblings: Visitación, Jose, Manuel, and Eugenia. He studied at the seminary in Mondoñedo and at the Pontifical University of Salamanca (1954–1958), from where he obtained his licentiate in theology. Rouco was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Francisco Barbado y Viejo, OP, on 28 March 1959.

He then furthered his studies at the University of Munich, earning a doctorate in canon law in 1964 with a dissertation on church-state relations in 16th century Spain. He held a series of academic posts, teaching fundamental theology, canon law, and ecclesiastical law at the seminary of Mondoñedo, and the University of Munich. In 1976 he was appointed titular Bishop of Gergi and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela by Pope Paul VI. Named Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in 1984 by Pope John Paul II, he played a key role in the hosting of the 4th World Youth Day in 1989. Five years later, in 1994, he was named Archbishop of Madrid by Pope John Paul II.


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