Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Monsignor Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez as archbishop of Santiago de Cuba and has appointed Monsignor Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz, until now bishop of Matanzas, to succeed him. The Holy See made the appointment public on November 7, and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba announced it in a communiqué that outlines the careers of both prelates.
García Ibáñez, 81, has governed the archdiocese since 2007, when he was appointed by Benedict XVI. He had previously been the first bishop of Bayamo-Manzanillo and presided over the Cuban Episcopal Conference from 2009 to 2017, after serving as vice-president from 2006 to 2009. He was also president of Caritas Cuba. According to the bishops’ note, his service was marked by fidelity, closeness, and a pastoral spirit, and was characterized by accompanying priests, deacons, religious, and laity and by promoting communion in the archdiocese.
An engineer who left his career to enter the seminary
Díaz Ruiz was born on November 14, 1960, in Céspedes, in the province of Camagüey. In 1978 he began studying Civil Engineering at the University of Camagüey, but dropped out in his third year to enter the San Basilio Magno seminary in Santiago de Cuba. He later completed his formation at the San Carlos and San Ambrosio seminary in Havana, where he specialized in Theology, and was ordained a priest on August 5, 1989, at the parish of La Soledad in Camagüey.
He served as assistant vicar in Morón and Florida and was in charge of the parish of Esmeralda. In 1999 he was sent to Rome, where he earned a licentiate in Biblical Theology from the Gregorian University. Upon his return in 2002, he led the parish of Nuevitas and served as a missionary in Chambas, in the diocese of Ciego de Ávila, as well as in Guáimaro and Florida. In addition, he was a clergy delegate on the National Commission of Priests, head of the Biblical Animation area of the National Catechetical Commission, and professor of Sacred Scripture at the seminaries of Camagüey and Havana.
From Ciego de Ávila to Matanzas and now to Santiago
Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Ciego de Ávila on July 8, 2017, and on April 7, 2023, transferred him to the diocese of Matanzas. He is currently vice-president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba and chairs the national commission for the pastoral care of adolescents, youth, and communication.
Santiago de Cuba is the country’s oldest metropolitan see, founded in 1522, and within its territory stands the national shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, patroness of Cuba. The communiqué does not indicate the date of Díaz Ruiz’s installation.