Pablo Muñoz Vega

Styles of Pablo Muñoz Vega
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Quito

Pablo Muñoz Vega S.J. (23 May 1903 – 3 June 1994), was an Ecuadorian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and served as the Archbishop of Quito.

He was born in Mira in Carchi and joined the Jesuits on 27 September 1918. He was educated at the Jesuit houses of studies in Ecuador and the Colegio Máximo de Oña in Burgos in Spain; he also studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on 25 July 1933 in Rome. He served on the staff of the Pontifical Gregorian University from 1937 to 1949 and from 1958 until 1964 served as the Jesuit provincial of Ecuador. He was an expert at the Second Vatican Council in Rome for a year from 1962. Pope Paul VI elevated him to the rank of cardinal in 1969.

Vega died in Quito in 1994. His cause of canonization commenced in the Archdiocese of Quito on 9 April 2016 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted their formal approval of the cause on 10 December 2015; this gives him the title Servant of God.

Life

Life and education

Pablo Muñoz Vega was born in Mira in 1903 to Antonio Muñoz Carrera and Josefina Vega.

He joined the Jesuits on 27 September 1918 and studied at the Jesuit houses of studies in Quito as well as in Burgos in Spain and in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University.^[1]

Priesthood and career

Vega was ordained to the priesthood in 1933 in Rome and commenced further studies there from 1933 until 1937. After the completion of his studies in 1937 he served as a staff member of the Pontifical Gregorian University until 1949 at which point he was appointed as the Jesuit provincial of Ecuador; he held that post until 1955.^[1]

He also served as the rector of the Pontifical Pio-Latin American College in Rome from 1955 until 1958 and served as the rector magnificus of the Pontifical Gregorian University from 1958 until 1963. He also served as an expert at the Second Vatican Council in both 1962 and 1963 in the first session.

Episcopate and cardinalate

Pope Paul VI appointed him to the titular see of Ceramus (with the rank pro hac vice of Archbishop) and as the Coadjutor Archbishop "sedis datus" of Quito on 7 February 1964.^[1] He received his episcopal consecration on 19 March 1964 in Rome from Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri. He succeeded to the metropolitan see of Quito on 23 June 1967 after serving as coadjutor.

He also attended the final two sessions of the Second Vatican Council as a bishop from 1964 until 1965. He attended the 1967 gathering of bishops in Rome from 29 September to 29 October and also became the President of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference; he had two terms from 1969 to 1973 and then 1975 to 1984.^[1] He attended several other episcopal gatherings in Rome in the next decade.

Vega was made the Cardinal-Priest of San Roberto Bellarmino in the consistory of 28 April 1969 and received his title on 30 April. He participated in the conclave of 1978 that elected Pope John Paul I and the following conclave of October that saw the election of Pope John Paul II.

In 1979 he attended the Third General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate in Puebla in Mexico and attended a gathering of the College of Cardinals from 5–9 November 1979. He lost the right to vote in conclaves after he turned 80 in 1983.^[1] He resigned from the pastoral governance of the archdiocese in 1985 at the age of 82. Vega also attended his last conference of the Latin American Episcopate in the Dominican Republic from 12–28 October 1992.

Death

Vega died in Quito on 3 June 1994 and is buried in the Cathedral of Quito.

Beatification process

On 21 February 2013 a request for the beatification process was lodged to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Congregation granted their approval to the cause on 10 December 2015 with the declaration of "nihil obstat" (nothing against) to the cause. The diocesan process commenced on 9 April 2016.

References

External links

• GCatholic.org
• Catholic Hierarchy
• Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church