Leo XIV appoints Mexican
Bishop who said after ‘Fiducia supplicans’: “We bless everyone”.On September 21, Pope Leo XIV has promoted Monsignor Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong as Archbishop of Puebla de los Ángeles, Mexico.
He was born on January 3, 1958, in Mérida, Archdiocese of Yucatán and ordained a priest on January 12, 1988, for that Archdiocese.
In 2009, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Papantla and received episcopal ordination in December. On May 2, 2012, he became diocesan bishop of Papantla.
Francis brought Patrón Wong to Rome. On September 21, 2013, he became Secretary for Seminaries at the Congregation for the Clergy.
“Don’t Define Seminarians by Homosexuality”
Asked in 2014 by LaStampa.it, about homosexual seminarians and support of a “gay culture”, Monsignor Patrón Wong replied evasively that sexual maturity is one component of broader personal maturity: “We cannot judge the state/existence in which a person comes before us.”
And: “It is important … not to be rigid in judging the people going through this process, but rather to help them understand and grow.”
He concluded that seminary is an "open and dynamic process".
The headline La Stampa chose was revealing: "On homosexuals: accompany personal maturity."
This interview wasn't an isolated comment. In 2016, he told LaStampa.it again, that homosexuality isn’t the central interpretive question about admitting seminarians.
He said that there is the novelty of personal accompaniment and individual discernment. He complained about "reductionist" approaches and specifically said that concentrating on homosexuality was an example of such reductionism.
Strange departure from Rome
Monsignor Patrón Wong spent eight years running the Vatican's seminary portfolio, and in December 2021 was suddenly sent back to Mexico to become Archbishop of Xalapa.
Catholic blogs rumoured back then, that Francis dismissed him in a November audience lasting only several minutes. According to that, Francis summoned Patrón Wong and essentially told him: “Thank you for your work, very good, but now I need you in Xalapa.”
Wong was visibly surprised but replied that he would finish the semester and then return to Mexico. Francis rejected that: “No, no. Now! You must go there by Christmas!”
No reason was given for the transferral.
The Archdiocese of Xalapa became vacant after Archbishop Hipólito Reyes Larios had died unexpectedly on 8 August 2021, just days before his 75th birthday. Patrón Wong was not being sent to some invented sinecure. Xalapa is a Metropolitan Archdiocese.
"We bless everyone"
On 7 February 2022, upon arriving as Archbishop of Xalapa, Patrón Wong held a press conference. Journalists asked him about homosexuality and he replied evasively, He said his position was that everyone should be treated equally "with fraternity, as brothers."
In January 2024, a month after the publication of ‘Fiducia Supplicans’, a reporter asked Patrón Wong about the “blessings” for homosexual couples. His response was:
“We don't ask. We simply give the blessing because we all need God and we all receive consolation from God.”
And: “We give it to everyone and we don't ask. We are simply all brothers, all children of God, all persons, and we all need God.”
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