Bishop of Arauca
Bishop Jaime Cristóbal Abril González, Bishop of Arauca, Colombia, was born in El Espino, Boyacá, on 17 July 1972, the son of Cristóbal de Jesús Abril García and Julia Isabel González Ferrer. He was baptized in La Uvita, Boyacá, in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception. He completed secondary studies at the Escuela Normal de Varones de Tunja from 1983 to 1988. He studied philosophy and theology at the Major Seminary of Tunja from 1989 to 1995. He was ordained a priest on 10 February 1996 and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Tunja. In 2001 he travelled to Rome to pursue a licentiate in sacred liturgy at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm, where he graduated summa cum laude with the thesis “En el Camino de los Óleos”. He served as assistant vicar at San Miguel Arcángel in Paipa, Boyacá, from 1996 to 1998; chaplain and professor of religion, ethics, and philosophy at Colegio Armando Solano in Paipa from 1997 to 1998; in the parish of Tuta from 1999 to 2000, for one month; in the María Auxiliadora parish of Tunja from 2000 to 2001; formator at the Major Seminary of Tunja and vocations promoter of the Archdiocese of Tunja from 1999 to 2001; in liturgy studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm from 2001 to 2005; formator at the Major Seminary of Tunja and vocations promoter of the Archdiocese of Tunja from 2005 to 2009; director of the Department of Liturgy of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia from 2009 to 2014; and parish priest at the Cathedral of Tunja from 2014 to 2016. On 16 April 2016 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Nueva Pamplona. His episcopal ordination was on 4 June 2016. On 7 June 2018, after the resignation of Bishop Luis Madrid Merlano, the college of consultors of the Archdiocese of Nueva Pamplona elected him diocesan administrator. On 18 November 2019 Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Arauca, and he took possession of his see on 12 December 2019.