This Saturday, September 7, Pope Francis appointed Fr. Mario Salas Becerra, until now provincial superior of the Mercedarian Province of Chile and Angola, and President of Religious of Chile (CONFERRE), as the new Auxiliary Bishop of Valparaíso in Chile.
“Today the Lord Jesus invites me to serve as a shepherd among you. I go with feelings of deep gratitude to meet again with brothers and sisters who knew me in my first years of my ministry or as a Mercedarian religious,” said the bishop-elect in a message published by the diocese of Valparaíso.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
“I humbly entrust myself to the prayers of hundreds of Christian communities spread throughout our diocese,” he added.
“I entrust my entire episcopal ministry to Purísima de Lo Vásquez, our mother. May she bless all our journey as a synodal Church,” said Mons. Salas.
Biography of the new auxiliary bishop of Valparaíso
As reported by the website of the Chilean episcopate, Bishop Mario Salas Becerra was born on February 25, 1973 in San Fernando, O’Higgins region. He is 51 years old.
He is an Electromechanical technician, a profession he held until 1996. A year later, in 1997, he entered the Mercedarian postulancy. In 1998 he took his first vows. Between 1998 and 1999 he studied Philosophy at the Pontifical Major Seminary of Santiago.
In 2005 he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
He was ordained a priest on March 3, 2006. He also obtained the titles of Pedagogy in Basic Religion from the Catechetical Home Institute of Santiago and a Diploma in Psychospiritual Accompaniment at the Alberto Hurtado University. In 2022 he obtained the diploma in prevention of ecclesial abuse at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
He was Vice Rector and pastoral manager of the San Pedro Nolasco School in Quillota (2005-2007) and Valparaíso (2008-2010). Between 2011 and 2014 he was superior and trainer of the Mercedarian Seminary. In 2011 he was elected provincial councilor.
From 2014 to 2018 he was parish priest of the Basilica of La Merced in Santiago and trainer of postulants. In 2019 he was appointed provincial superior of the Mercedarian Province of Chile and Angola.
Since 2018 he has been a member of the Abuse Prevention Council of the Conference of Religious of Chile CONFERRE. In 2021 he was elected president of that institution. In 2022 he became a member of the National Council for the Prevention of Abuse and Support for Victims, of the Episcopal Conference of Chile.
In 2023 he was again elected provincial superior of the Mercedarian Province of Chile and Angola.
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.