Last Monday, May 27, the Catholic Church in Argentina woke up with the unexpected news of the resignation of Mons. Gabriel Mestre as Archbishop of La Plata, a position for which he had been appointed by Pope Francis just 10 months before.
In his letter to the community, the 55-year-old prelate explained that the Pontiff asked him to resign due to issues related to what happened from November to the present in the Diocese of Mar del Plata, where he served as Bishop for 6 years, and that meets with vacant seat and in the hands of an Apostolic Administrator after two consecutive resignations of bishops appointed by the Pope, but who did not take office.
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We share with you a review of the most relevant events that occurred in the Diocese of Mar del Plata from the moment Mons. Mestre, the first bishop from the city, left his position after Pope Francis trusted him to occupy the chair of La Plata, the third largest archdiocese in the country, succeeding Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández there, today Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Vatican.
What is the Diocese of Mar del Plata?
The Diocese of Mar del Plata is an ecclesiastical district located on the Atlantic coast of the Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Its main city, Mar del Plata, is the most important tourist town in the country. It is estimated that during the year more than 8 million people come to this spa destination.
The Catholic Church in Mar del Plata pastorally serves the districts—political subdivisions of the Province of Buenos Aires—of Balcarce, General Alvarado, General Madariaga, General Pueyrredón, Lobería, Mar Chiquita, Necochea, Pinamar and Villa Gesell, and pastorally serves some 774,000 people, through 49 parishes. In the diocese there are 72 priests, including diocesans and religious.
A native of this city, Bishop Gabriel Mestre received his sacraments of initiation there, attended a period of university training in Social Work, and received his priestly ordination from the hands of Bishop José María Arancedo, who was Bishop of Mar del Plata between 1991 and 2003. On July 18, 2017, Bishop Mestre was appointed by Pope Francis as Bishop of Mar del Plata, a position he held until July 2023, when he was named Archbishop of La Plata.
What is the Archdiocese of La Plata?
The Archdiocese of La Plata, based in the city of the same name and capital of the Province of Buenos Aires, is located less than 60 kilometers from the City of Buenos Aires and is one of the eight oldest ecclesiastical jurisdictions in Argentina.
It includes the districts of La Plata, Berisso, Ensenada, Magdalena and Punta Indio, covers an area of 4,652 square kilometers and pastorally cares for more than 700,000 inhabitants, being the third most important archdiocese in the country, preceded only by Córdoba and Buenos Aires.
It has a total of 77 parishes distributed throughout the territory. There, Bishop Gabriel Mestre took office in September 2023, succeeding the now Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández in office.
Chronology: What happened in the last few months in Mar del Plata?
July 28, 2023: Pope Francis Archbishop of La Plata appoints Mons. Gabriel Mestreuntil then Bishop of Mar del Plata.
September 16, 2023: Mons. Mestre takes over as Archbishop of La Plata.
September 18, 2023: Father Luis Albóniga, parish priest of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin in the city of Mar del Plata, is elected Diocesan Administrator of the diocese by the College of Consultors, until Pope Francis appoints a new bishop for that ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
November 21, 2023: Bishop José María Baliña is appointed Bishop of Mar del Plata. Until then the prelate had been Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires.
December 13, 2023: Three weeks after the appointment and before taking office, Bishop José María Baliña resigned as Bishop of Mar del Plata.
“When they proposed that I take over as bishop of Mar del Plata, grateful for the Pope’s trust, I was quick to accept immediately, without being aware of the process that was happening. For several months I have been struggling with a retinal detachment, with two operations and another scheduled for February, apart from other personal and family situations,” he explained then.
Pope Francis then appointed Bishop Gustavo Larrazábal, who was serving as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Juan de Cuyo.
December 29, 2023: Without giving further details, the Newspaper The Capital of Mar del Plata casts doubt on the assumption of Bishop Larrazábal: “The assumption of Bishop Gustavo Manuel Larrazábal as the new bishop of Mar del Plata, initially scheduled for January 20, was called into question in the last few hours and it is not ruled out that he will be appointed to that role to another priest.”
“Days ago, the local Diocese announced that Larrazábal would begin his ministry in local pastoral care in the coming weeks, but recently his appointment was questioned by very high sources of the Church of San Juan,” the article reads.
January 9, 2024: A publication of Newspaper The Capital of Mar del Plata affirms that “a delicate situation is registered in religious and secular circles of Mar del Plata, following the appointment of Monsignor Gustavo Manuel Larrazábal as the new bishop of this district.”
“It was established that there is a lot of concern – his inauguration is scheduled for next January 20 – as he became aware of complaints against him for the alleged crimes of harassment and abuse of power, registered between 2007 and 2013, but which were revived and “came to light in these hours, based on the fact that the complainant is a woman from Mar del Plata, currently living in the City of Buenos Aires.”
January 9, 2024: The Apostolic Nunciature states that The Holy See has “total confidence” in Bishop Larrazábalgiven the rumors against him spread in the local press about the alleged existence of old complaints against him.
According to the Nunciature, these rumors “have no basis.”
January 17, 2024: Pope Francis accepts the resignation of Bishop Gustavo Larrazábal to the pastoral government of Mar del Plata. This is the second consecutive bishop to resign from this appointment. Bishop Larrazábal will continue to exercise his ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of San Juan de Cuyo.
Pope Francis appoints Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Mar del Plata to Mons. Ernesto Giobando SJ., Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires.
January 28, 2024: At the end of the Mass in the Asunción de la Santísima Virgen parish they announce that Father Luis Albóniga, who served as Diocesan Administrator of Mar del Plata, was transferred “for a period of time outside the Diocese” and he will exercise his ministry in the Diocese of Jujuy, 1,900 kilometers from Mar del Plata, where he will accompany Mons. César Daniel Fernández.
The parochial vicar, Fr. Lucas Di Leva, then reported that “the Church has asked Father Luis Albóniga for some time away from the diocese, after his task as Diocesan Administrator, and understanding that it is good for him and for the Diocese.” .
January 30, 2024: And statement circulating on WhatsApp explains that “the Holy See, through the Apostolic Administrator, informs that Fr. Luis Albóniga was transferred for a time to the Diocese of Jujuy, because a canonical procedure related to clarifying his actions during his task as diocesan administrator will be carried out.
March 26, 2024: After some demonstrations in local media and letters in support of Father Luis Albóniga that circulated on social networks, a group of faithful attended the Chrism Mass, celebrated by Bishop Giobando in the cathedral of Mar del Plata, with posters with the legend “Father Luis present”, according to the La Capital Newspaper of Mar del Plata.
May 27, 2024: Pope Francis accepts the resignation of Bishop Gabriel Mestre from the Archdiocese of La Plata. In a letter to the faithful, the Prelate explained that his resignation is related to the situation of recent months in the Diocese of Mar del Plata.
“After confronting some different perceptions with what happened in the Diocese of Mar del Plata from November 2023 to the present, Pope Francis asked me to resign from the La Plata see,” he explained.
The Holy Father then names Apostolic Administrator of La Plata to Mons. Alberto Bochatey, until now Auxiliary Bishop.
The same day, the Argentine Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize winner, addressed a letter to Pope Francis in which he values the work of Bishop Mestre, “a pastor committed to the Church and the people of God who walks with those and sisters that you rightly point out ‘the disposables’ that increase every day in our country due to injustice, poverty and hunger”.
In “moments of uncertainty, of lights and shadows,” Pérez Esquivel affirms that “Gabriel is one of those necessary lights that reach the minds and hearts of our Church and the people.”
June 1, 2024: Some faithful attended the Corpus Christi celebration in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Cecilia, in Mar del Plata, with posters and banners in support of Father Luis Albóniga and also Bishop Mestre. In the intentions of the Mass, they asked “for Bishop Gabriel Mestre, Father Luis Albóniga and all the clergy, so that this time of trial may also be a ‘time of grace’ for them.”
Meanwhile in La Plata, the Apostolic Administrator, at the end of the celebration for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, referred to the resignation of Bishop Mestre and according to the local pressHe seemed excited.
“I would like to share with you something of what we are experiencing as an Archdiocese since the resignation of Bishop Gabriel Mestre as Archbishop. Along with the surprise that has caused us, an ecclesial and theological time of hope and prayer for him opens, for us as a local Church and above all for whoever is the next Archbishop that the Holy Father, Francisco, wants to give us,” he expressed.
Bishop Bochatey announced that Mestre will stay to live in La Plata “collaborating in a parish where there is a need for pastoral care, at least until the new Archbishop comes.”
“He has decided to withdraw a little and has asked us not to say goodbyes or greetings. For example, despite having expressly invited him, he did not want to be here today so as not to be a cause of distraction from the center of the Eucharistic feast,” he explained.
“Many have asked us: what can we do? The answer is one and clear: pray and renew ourselves in the hope of Jesus, way, truth and life, Son of the Living God, head of the Church,” he concluded.
Juliet Villar
I am a journalist, with a degree in communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non-governmental organizations. Since 2016 I have been dedicated to Catholic journalism, first at the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as ACI Prensa correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.