Juan Francisco Fresno

Styles of Juan Francisco Fresno Larraín
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Santiago de Chile

Juan Francisco Fresno Larraín (26 July 1914 – 14 October 2004) was a Chilean cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Santiago de Chile from 1983 to 1990, and was elevated to the Cardinalate in 1985.

He was born in Santiago de Chile as the son of Luis Alfredo Fresno Ingunza y Elena Larraín Hurtado. He was educated at the seminary of Santiago de Chile and later at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome where he earned a licentiate in theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on 18 December 1937 at the cathedral of Santiago, by Horacio Campillo, archbishop of Santiago.

Between 1937 and 1958 he worked as a pastor, in spiritual director and was vice-director of the Minor Seminary. S.S. Pope Pius XII appointed him bishop of Copiapó on 15 June 1958. He attended the Second Vatican Council. He was promoted to the metropolitan see of La Serena on 28 July 1971. by pope Paul VI.

He was elected President of the Episcopal Conference of Chile in 1975. He played a key role in the efforts to restore democracy in Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet by making contact with opposition leaders and persuaded them to unite in a pro-democracy effort that included Marxists and the democratic right. After the fall of Pinochet he promoted their first tense contacts with the government and was one of the supporters of Acuerdo Nacional para la Transición a la Democracia Plena (National Agreement for the Transition to Full Democracy). This in turn led to the Chilean national plebiscite, 1988 that marked the beginning of the end of the military regime.

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