The Archbishop of Tijuana, Baja California (Mexico), Bishop Francisco Moreno Barrón, died this Sunday, October 26, after fighting lung cancer for the last three years. Only on October 3 he had turned 71 years old.
The news of his death was shared on a statement of the Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM), in which all Catholic faithful were asked to pray “for his eternal rest.”
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In an image that accompanies the CEM statement it is read that the death of the Archbishop of Tijuana “constitutes a great loss for our local and national Church.”
The Mexican bishops also expressed their “condolences to his family, friends and faithful of the Archdiocese of Tijuana, whom he served in life as their pastor, united in faith and with trust placed in God.”
“We pray to our Lord Jesus Christ to receive him and reward him with his Kingdom, for his generous service and pastoral dedication for the good of the entrusted people, and to all of us who are still pilgrims to the Father’s House, we implore him to comfort us in this tribulation with the hope of Eternal Life.”
Just on Saturday, October 25, the Archdiocese of Tijuana reported that Mons. Moreno Barrón was definitively suspending his cancer treatment, to remain hospitalized at the SIMNSA International Hospital in Tijuana, with medical care “oriented toward palliative care.”
Since 2022, the Archbishop of Tijuana has been fighting epithelial mestelinoma, a type of cancer mainly linked to contact with asbestos.
The CEM indicated in its statement that the Archdiocese of Tijuana will soon provide information about the prelate’s funeral.
Biography of Bishop Francisco Moreno Barrón
According to the website of the Archdiocese of Tijuana, Bishop Moreno Barrón was born in Salamanca, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, on October 3, 1954. 12 years later, he entered the Diocesan Seminary of Morelia.
He was ordained a priest on February 25, 1979, incardinated in the Archdiocese of Morelia, Michoacán.
Saint John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Morelia in 2002. Six years later, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Tlaxcala, in the state of the same name.
In 2016, Benedict XVI named him Archbishop of Tijuana.
Between February 2022 and November 2023, at the request of Pope Francis, he was Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Mexicali, Baja California, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Tijuana.
Always entrusted to God throughout his illness, Mons. Moreno Barrón assured in one of his statements that this aggressive cancer was part of the “path that God has traced for my happiness and sanctification.”
David Ramos
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Privada del Norte in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working at ACI Prensa, I have been based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered Pope Francis’ trips to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.