The Vatican reported on July 20 that Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Oscar Augusto Múnera Ochoa from the position of apostolic vicar of Tierradentro (Colombia) at the age of 62, 13 years younger than the age at which bishops present their official resignation. .
“The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the pastoral care of the apostolic vicariate of Tierradentro Colombia, presented by Bishop Oscar Augusto Múnera Ochoa,” the Vatican statement simply said.
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So far neither the Holy See nor the Episcopal Conference of Colombia have reported the reasons for the resignation.
Since 2015, Mons. Múnera Ochoa has headed this jurisdiction, located in the ecclesiastical Province of Popayán, in the southwest of Colombia. This province includes the Archdiocese of Popayán and several suffragan dioceses.
The prelate is mentioned in the book The secret fileby journalists Juan Pablo Barrientos and Miguel Ángel Estupiñán, which recounts cases of alleged sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Colombia.
For its part, the newspaper El Tiempo reported that “so far there are no public complaints before the Attorney General’s Office against Múnera Ochoa.”
ACI Prensa contacted the Apostolic Vicariate of Tierradentro to find out the reasons for the resignation of Bishop Múnera Ochoa, but so far no response has been received.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Prensa I have been sent to cover Pope Francis’ trips to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synodality Synod in the Vatican in 2023.