José Leopoldo González González

José Leopoldo González González was born on 7 February 1955 at Cañadas de Obregón, Jalisco, on the cerro El Mirador, third of seven children of Leopoldo González Pérez and Rosa González Argümendo. The Vatican bulletin prints the birthplace truncated as 'Canades'; the CEM curriculum gives Cañadas de Obregón, which governs. He entered the Seminario Conciliar de Guadalajara on 16 September 1969 (secondary 1969-1972, preparatory 1972-1975, introductory year at Tapalpa 1975-1976, philosophy 1976-1978, theology 1978-1983 with a pastoral year in San Francisco, California, 1979-1980), served his diaconate at the Minor Seminary of Hermosillo in 1983-1984, and was ordained a priest on 27 May 1984 by Cardinal José Salazar López, Archbishop of Guadalajara, incardinated Guadalajara. He took the licentiate in moral theology at the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome in 1984-1986, with the Redemptorists; the CEM curriculum adds a licentiate in philosophy from UNIVA in 2008, which is not bulletin-confirmed.

As a priest he was parish vicar of El Salitre de Guadalupe, Villa Guerrero, in 1986-1987, administrator of the Santuario del Señor de los Rayos at Temastián from 10 April to 20 July 1987, discipline prefect in the minor seminary and professor of fundamental moral theology in the major seminary of Guadalajara in 1988-1993, official of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in Rome in 1993-2001 (the CEM curriculum's range; the Vatican bulletin's summary gives 1993-2000), parish priest of Santa Cecilia, Guadalajara, in 2001-2004, and director of welfare and development at UNIVA in 2004-2006. In the conference he was Secretary General of the CEM for the triennium 2006-2009, Secretary General of CELAM in 2009-2011, and president of the CEM Commission for Social Pastoral for two triennia, 2012-2018, in the bulletin's summary. His episcopal motto, Iustitia, pax et gaudium ('Justicia, paz y alegría'), is asserted here on the Guadalajara possession chronicle, where the welcome address quotes it as his episcopal motto and the nuncio's homily refers to it; the Wikipedia coat-of-arms caption agrees but the chronicle is the confirming source.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him titular bishop of Tuburnica and auxiliary bishop of Guadalajara on 15 November 2005, and he was consecrated on 25 January 2006. The titular spelling Tuburnica (bulletin and CEM communiqué) governs over Wikipedia's 'Thuburnica.' Wikipedia states he was consecrated by Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez at the parish of San Bernardo in Guadalajara; that consecrator is attributed to Wikipedia, not asserted, since no primary consecration report was opened. Pope Francis erected the Diocese of Nogales on 19 March 2015 and appointed him its first bishop the same day; the CEM communiqué notes the provisional cathedral was the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Nogales.

NOGALES POSSESSION DATE, FLAGGED: the dossier codes his Nogales tenure from 20 May 2015, basis possession, on the Spanish Wikipedia biography (opened), which states he 'tomó posesión canónica el 20 de mayo del mismo año, en la Catedral Santuario de Nogales.' Catholic-Hierarchy (opened) lists him 'Installed' as Bishop of Nogales on its 22 May events page. Both sources are secondary; the dossier follows the more specific wording (canonical possession plus the named venue, which matches the CEM communiqué's provisional cathedral) and flags the Catholic-Hierarchy 22 May reading. The two dates are not merged, and 21 May is never coded as a compromise. A Nogales diocesan primary (2015 installation chronicle or boletín) would settle it. His Nogales tenure closes at the San Juan de los Lagos possession on 25 May 2024, per canon 418 section 1, not at the 19 March 2024 appointment; Wikipedia's infobox ranges ('Desde el 19 de marzo de 2024' for San Juan; '19 de marzo de 2015-19 de marzo de 2024' for Nogales) are appointment-bracketed and are rejected.

Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of San Juan de los Lagos on 19 March 2024, and he took possession as seventh (VII) bishop on 25 May 2024, in the Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora de San Juan de los Lagos. The Guadalajara chronicle records the reading of the Apostolic Letters, the delivery of the crosier by Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega, metropolitan of Guadalajara, and the toma de posesión de la cátedra. His predecessor, Jorge Alberto Cavazos Arizpe, transferred to San Luis Potosí in 2022 and served as apostolic administrator of San Juan for two years before this possession; that administrator tenure is Cavazos Arizpe's, not González González's, and is background only.