First Bishop appointed by Pope Leo XIV receives the episcopal consecration in Peru

On Saturday, July 12, he received the Episcopal Consecration Mons. Miguel Ángel Contreras Llajaruna, SM, to exercise the position of Auxiliary Bishop of Callao (Peru), after being designated by Pope Leo XIV in May, being the first bishop who appointed the Pontiff.

According to the site Catholic Hierarchyspecialized in the bishops of the world, with 46 years Mons. Contreras becomes the youngest bishop in Peru and the third youngest in Latin America.

It is significant that Leo XIV, the first American and Peruvian Pope in history, made his first appointment for Callao in Peru, diocese that he was in charge of as an apostolic administrator.

Episcopal consecration is the rite by which a priest is ordered Bishop, conferring the fullness of the sacrament of the priestly order and the authority to exercise the triple mission of bishops: sanctify, teach and govern.

The Massheld in the Immaculate Conception Parish in Callao, was presided over by the main consecrating and Bishop of Callao, Mons. Luis Barrera Pacheco. The co-consagrants were Mons. Carlos García, Bishop of Lurín and president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference; and Mons. Paolo Gualtieri, Apostolic Nuncio in Peru.

“We all know the immensity, not only of the territory, but of the thirst of God that the people of Callao have in its different places (…) here in the most critical and difficult areas you need messengers of joy and hope. That is why the Holy Father has given us an assistant, to help us, to work in communion all, as brothers,” said the prelate in his homily.

According to them Latest figures From the authorities, between January and July 2025, the National Police of Peru registered 461 extortion cases, 112 murders with a firearm and 238 injured by the same cause. Criminality in this area has also argued that, on more than one occasion, the state of emergency is decreed there.

After encouraging not to fall into hopelessness, Mons. Barrera encouraged all the faithful of Callao to host with joy the new auxiliary bishop.

In his words, and already consecrated auxiliary bishop of Callao, Mons. Contreras, he thanked everyone present for accompanying him, especially the members of his congregation, the Marist Fathers, with whom he has shared the last 27 years.

“We are here to walk in communion and with it the way becomes more bearable even if it is long and tedious,” said the prelate who encouraged to continue praying for him to answer “to the ideal of the diocese of the Callao” that “it is nothing more than continuing to announce the Gospel of Jesus under the protection and protection of the Virgin Mary.”

Born on July 5, 1979 in Cajabamba, Cajamarca, Mons. Miguel Ángel Contreras Llajaruna entered the seminar of Marist parents in Sullana (Piura).

It was formed for the priesthood in Peru and Mexico; and obtained the Bachelor of Sacred Scripture at the Jesuit Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and a Master in Educational Management and Management at Marcelino Champagnat University of Lima.

He was ordained a priest on April 25, 2008, and has performed intense pastoral and educational work, becoming an episcopal vicar for the consecrated life of Callao and Superior of the South America District of the Marist Fathers.