Antonio Cañizares Llovera

infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Toledo |

Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera (born October 10, 1945) is a Spanish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as Archbishop of Toledo, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2006.

Biography

Antonio Cañizares Llovera was born in Utiel, and studied at the minor and major seminaries in Valencia and at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, from where he obtained his doctorate in theology, specializing in catechesis. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop José García Lahiguera on June 21, 1970, and then served as vice-pastor and delegate for catechesis in the Archdiocese of Valencia.

Following his transfer to the Archdiocese of Madrid, Cañizares taught catechetical theology at the University of Salamanca and fundamental theology at the Conciliar Seminary of Madrid. He later became the director and a professor of the Institute of Religious Science and Catechesis "San Dámaso" in Madrid, and sat on several commissions and secretariats of the Spanish Episcopal Conference as well. From 1985 to 1992, Cañizares served as director of the Secretariat of the Episcopal Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith. He also founded and was the first president of "Asociación Española de Catequistas", and was Director of the review "Teología y Catequésis".

On March 6, 1992, Cañizares was appointed as Bishop of Ávila by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 25 from Archbishop Mario Tagliaferri, with Cardinals Ángel Suquía Goicoechea and Marcelo González Martín serving as co-consecrators, in the Cathedral of Ávila. Cañizares later became a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Roman Curia on November 10, 1996, and was named Archbishop of Granada on December 10 of that same year. In addition to his duties in Granada, he was Apostolic Administrator of Cartagena from January to October 1998, and made President of the Episcopal Commission of Education and Catechesis in 1999.

Cañizares was promoted to Archbishop of Toledo, and thus Primate of the Spanish Church, on October 24, 2002. He was elected Vice-President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference as well. Pope Benedict XVI created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Pancrazio" in the consistory of March 24, 2006. The Spanish primate was awarded a doctorate "honoris causa" from the University "Cardenal Herrera-CEU" on that same date.

He has been a member of "Real Academia de la Historia de España" since November 2007. He will be eligible to participate in any future papal conclaves until he reaches the age of eighty on October 10, 2025.

External links

* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcaniz.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios2006.htm#Canizares Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]