Leo XIV Promotes Mexican Archbishop Who Was "Purified" by Mazatec Rites
Álvarez was born in Jiquilpan, in the Diocese of Zamora, in January 1960. He was ordained a priest in 1986 for the Diocese of Zamora and holds a licentiate in pastoral theology.
After serving in various parishes and spending two years as a missionary priest in Peru, he returned to Mexico as a parish priest and head of clergy formation in his diocese.
He was appointed Bishop of the Territorial Prelature of Huautla in 2011 (10 parishes, 24 priests) by Benedict XVI and was ordained a bishop in January 2012.
In 2019, he was transferred to become Bishop of Tampico (72 parishes, 147 priests).
In January 2025, Pope Francis – with his Prefect Robert Prevost of the Congregation of Bishops – appointed him Coadjutor of Morelia (242 parishes, 455 priests).
Homosexual Blessings in the Diocese of Tampico
In December 2023, while he was Bishop of Tampico, Monsignor Álvarez Cano actively implemented the Vatican document Fiducia supplicans. According to Oem.com.mx, he "allowed" pseudo-blessings for homosexual concubines, The bishop said that “we will bless all of God’s children.”
He stated that “no one is excluded from God’s grace,” but that these "blessings" do not mean approval of homosexual “marriage.”
He Received Mazatec Purification Rituals
Bishop Álvarez Cano is linked to indigenous religious rites, especially connected to the Mazatec people of Oaxaca, where he was Prelate of Huautla.
Before his ordination as bishop in 2012, he was “purified” in a Mazatec ritual (limpia) performed by indigenous women in traditional dress, reported PressLibre.mx.
Mazatec purification rites are inseparable from a worldview in which nature is spiritually active, plants carry spiritual force, and the Earth is a sacred and personalized entity often conceptualized as “Mother Earth.”
In November 2018, Bishop Álvarez Cano ordained the priest Adriel Cabrera Santiago in the San Juan Evangelista Cathedral including a pagan additional ritual. The new priest told the Mejor Diario de Oaxaca newspaper that he respects the indigenous Mazatecs and would therefore agree to undergo a "spiritual cleansing" with sacred leaves from Mother Earth, an ancestral rite.
Such a pagan rite was again performed during the installation of Monsignor Álvarez Cano as Coadjutor Archbishop of Morelia in March 2025. A Mazatec delegation from Huautla performed a purification rite over him using green branches and leaves.
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