Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga was born in Tegucigalpa on 29 December 1942. A Salesian, ordained on 28 June 1970, he holds a doctorate in theology from the Lateran and a diploma in clinical psychology and psychotherapy from Innsbruck; he taught chemistry, physics, and music at Salesian colleges in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala before becoming rector of the Salesian Philosophical Institute in Guatemala. Appointed titular Bishop of Pudentiana and auxiliary of Tegucigalpa on 28 October 1978 (consecrated 8 December), he became Metropolitan Archbishop of Tegucigalpa on 8 January 1993, serving until 26 January 2023.
He presided over CELAM (1995–99), led Caritas Internationalis (2007–15), and became the Vatican's spokesman with the IMF and World Bank on Third World debt. John Paul II created him the first Honduran cardinal on 21 February 2001, with the title of Santa Maria della Speranza; he was papabile in 2005 and voted in the conclaves of 2005 and 2013. On 13 April 2013 Francis named him coordinator of the Council of Cardinals advising the Pope on governing the Church and reforming the Curia — a post he held for ten years, through the promulgation of Praedicate Evangelium in 2022. His motto is Mihi Vivere Christus Est — “for me to live is Christ.”
Consequential Quotes
The true weapons of mass destruction are poverty and injustice.
Major Works & Initiatives
Coordinator of the Council of Cardinals
A decade as Francis's chief adviser on Curia reform.
President of Caritas Internationalis
Led the Church's worldwide confederation of charities.
Archbishop of Tegucigalpa
Thirty years as Honduras's first cardinal-archbishop.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.