Juan Sandoval Iñiguez
Who is Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez?
Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez is archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico. He is
currently fighting off allegations, made by a former attorney general and
interior minister, Jorge Carpizo, that he is involved in money laundering.
Sandoval is number two in the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Mexico. There are now
three cardinals in Mexico.
Sandoval is from the most conservative wing of the Church and sometimes
mentioned as the most papabile of the Mexican cardinals.
Sandoval took over Guadalajara after cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo, was
shot dead in 1993. The government claims that Posadas was killed by accident, in
the crossfire of a shoot out between two gangs of drug traffickers at
Guadalajara airport. Sandoval however claims that Posadas was killed because of
what he knew about the links between the drug gangs and the then-President,
Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
There is a third line, espoused by extreme anti-clericalists. This is that
Posadas was killed because the Church, which had been labouring under
anti-clerical regulations, was involved with at least one of the drug gangs. The
church used the gang to buy property on its behalf.
Why watch him?
He is very well connected. Not many people accused of money laundering get the
chance to lobby the President, Vicente Fox. Sandoval did, at a birthday lunch
for the President's mother.
The allegations against Sandoval have complicated Church-State relations in
Mexico, the more so because Fox is such a pious Catholic.
Traditionally Mexican Presidents have represented the strong anti-clerical tradition in the country. The Vatican is known to be watching the case with close interest and has issued a statement saying that it supports Sandoval. Sandoval is also drawing on popular support amongst Mexico's catholics and has criticised his accusers.
Given the Pope's poor state of health and the likelihood of a conclave to pick his successor sooner rather than later, the investigation into Sandoval has almost certainly knocked him out of the papal succession stakes.
Born: 28 March 1933.
Place of birth: Yahualica, San Juan de los Lagos, México.
Education:
Seminario de Guadalajara, Guadalajara; and at the Pontifical Gregorian
University in Rome (where he was awarded a doctorate in theology).
Public life:
Ordained: 27 October 1957, in Rome. He remained in Rome, studying until 1961.
Then he returned to work in a parish in the diocese of Guadalajara, in 1961.
Timeline:
1961-1971: Spiritual director in the Seminario de Guadalajara; head of
discipline; head of the philosophy department; member of the faculty and
pastoral care director for students at Tapalpa.
1971-1980: deputy head of the Seminario de Guadalajara
1980- 1988: On 22 August 1980 he became head of the Seminario de
Guadalajara. He remained in this post until 1988. He also held several important
posts in the diocese.
1988: Consecrated as bishop of Ciudad Juárez.
1990: Attended the VIII Assembly of the synod of bishop in the Vatican.
1992: Attended the IV Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano,
Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic.
1994: Created cardinal on 26 November.
1995: Named as a member of the committee of cardinals for the study of
the Vatican's administrative and economic problems.
1997: Rapporteur for the Special assembly of Latin American bishops in
Vatican.
2003: The Procuradoría General de la República investigates him for
money laundering.
Strong points
Sandoval is one of the most respected prelates in Latin America. He is an
influential figure in Mexico, where Guadalajara and Jalisco are both bastions of
Catholicism. The state is bastion of the Partido Acción Nacional and
conservative mayors of Guadalajara have courted controversy by demanding that
women employees of the municipality should not wear mini-skirts to work.
Weak points
Sandoval is on the ultramontane wing of the Church. He is against any
recognition of rights for homosexuals. He is also against making prophylactics
available to people. Such unreconstructed opinions have made the cardinal many
enemies, even in a country as conservative as Mexico.
Prospects
The allegations of money laundering made against him are part of a long running
feud between him and his right wing supporters and Jorge Carpizo McGregor, a
former attorney general, interior minister and ambassador to France. The
cardinal's high handed response to the allegations has damaged his image in
Mexico. He regards the investigation as an insult and he claimed that President
Fox had told him that he would be cleared within a fortnight. The cardinal later
had to withdraw this statement and another in which he claimed the President had
agreed that the people who had made the allegations against him should be
investigated as well.