The Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) reported this Sunday, October 26, 2025, the death of Monsignor Francisco Moreno Barrón, archbishop of Tijuana, after fighting lung cancer for the last three years. He had just turned 71 on October 3.
In the text, the bishops express their Christian hope in the resurrection and ask the faithful to offer prayers for the eternal rest of their brother in the episcopate. “We ask our Lord Jesus Christ to receive him and reward him with his Kingdom for his generous service and pastoral dedication for the good of the entrusted people”, states the statement.
The CEM also conveyed its condolences to the family, friends, and faithful of the Archdiocese of Tijuana, to which Mons. Moreno Barrón served “as its pastor, united in faith and with trust placed in God”.
The message cites the passage from the Gospel of Saint John —“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, will live” (Jn 11,25)— as a sign of Christian hope in the face of the archbishop’s departure. It also includes the prayer for the dead: “Grant him, Lord, eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon him”.
Biography of Mons. Francisco Moreno Barrón
Francisco Moreno Barrón was born on October 3, 1954 in Salamanca, Guanajuato, into a deeply Catholic family. He entered the Seminary of Morelia, where he completed his philosophical and theological studies, and was ordained a priest on May 25, 1979 for the Archdiocese of Morelia.
During his first years of ministry, he held various pastoral responsibilities: he was a parish vicar, formator, and later rector of the Minor Seminary of Morelia, in addition to coordinating youth and vocational pastoral care.
On June 21, 2002, Saint John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of Morelia, receiving episcopal consecration on July 25 of the same year.
Subsequently, on July 16, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI designated him bishop of Tlaxcala, where he exercised a fruitful ministry of pastoral renewal, attention to priests, and promotion of Eucharistic devotion.
On July 11, 2016, Pope Francis appointed him archbishop of Tijuana, a border diocese with great pastoral dynamism, where he focused his work on attention to migrants, families, and priests, as well as the promotion of ecclesial communion.
Mons. Moreno Barrón was also a member of the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Care and Human Mobility, and actively participated in the work of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region. His pastoral closeness, simplicity, and doctrinal firmness earned him the affection and respect of the faithful and the clergy.
Over more than 45 years of priestly and episcopal service, his ministry was characterized by a deep love for Christ, fidelity to the Magisterium, and commitment to the most needy.