Archbishop Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa

Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa is Archbishop of Bahía Blanca, Argentina. Father Carlos Azpiroz Costa, O.P., was born on 30 October 1956 in Buenos Aires. The Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca profile says he was the eighth child of Nélida Victoria Costa Colombo and Francisco Azpiroz Gil, who had 14 children, 13 sons and one daughter, and that his younger brother Fernando is a priest of the Society of Jesus. After primary and higher studies at the Marist Brothers' school, identified in the diocesan source as Colegio Marcelino Champagnat in Buenos Aires, he began university studies in Civil Law at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires and later graduated in Civil Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. On 1 March 1980 he entered the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, and made his first profession on 28 February 1981. After the years of philosophy at the Centro de Estudios Institucionales of the Santo Domingo Convent in Buenos Aires, he made solemn profession on 10 March 1984 and obtained the baccalaureate in Philosophy from the Universidad del Norte Santo Tomás de Aquino (UNSTA) of the Argentine Dominican Province. He began theological studies at the Centro de Estudios Institucionales, affiliated with the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, and in 1989 obtained the baccalaureate in Theology. During his years of formation he taught catechesis at the Catholic school of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Rosary, identified by the diocesan source as Colegio Nuestra Señora del Rosario del Milagro in Floresta, and was a university assistant or professor in theological anthropology, dogmatic theology, and social philosophy in faculties of economics, law, and philosophy at the Catholic University of Argentina and UNSTA. Pastorally, he worked with the Movimiento de Jornadas de Vida Cristiana in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and in missionary activities in Puerto Viejo, Corrientes, and also in Valcheta, Río Negro, El Alto, Catamarca, Maipú, Mendoza, and especially the department of Lavalle, Corrientes. Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio ordained him deacon on 8.08.1986 and priest on 14.08.1987 in Santo Domingo Convent in Buenos Aires. The Vatican source also gives priestly ordination as 14 August 1987. That year he was elected provincial secretary while continuing the academic and pastoral work already mentioned. In September 1989 he was sent to Rome for further studies, obtaining the licentiate in 1991 and the doctorate in Canon Law at the Angelicum in 1992. From 1992 to 1995 he was prior of the novitiate convent San Martín de Porres in Mar del Plata and taught at Universidad FASTA in Mar del Plata, at the Centro de Estudio y Reflexión (CEDIER) of the Diocese of Mar del Plata, and in the Faculty of Canon Law of the Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires. He was responsible for university pastoral work and collaborated with boards of women and men religious in the Mar del Plata diocese. From Mar del Plata he continued academic work in Buenos Aires as professor of Law of Consecrated Life in the Faculty of Canon Law of the UCA and professor of Canon Law at the study center of the Argentine Province of Saint Augustine. With the conventual community, he also provided pastoral care for chapels in the neighborhoods of Las Margaritas, Estación Camet, La Florida, and 2 de Abril. In 1995 the provincial chapter again appointed him provincial secretary, and he was elected prior of Santo Domingo Convent in Buenos Aires, continuing teaching, youth pastoral work, and missionary work in Corrientes. He was a member, between 1993 and 1997, of the theological reflection team of the Argentine Conference of Religious (CAR), later CONFAR. In July 1997 the Master of the Order, Fray Timothy Radcliffe, appointed him procurator general of the Order in the General Curia in Rome, at the Santa Sabina convent on the Aventine. He was assigned the rectorship of the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, served as rector between 1997 and 2000, and taught Law of Consecrated Life in the Faculty of Canon Law of the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Urbe. In the General Chapter of the Order held in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, he was elected Master of the Order, superior general, on 14 July 2001. From 2003 to 2006 he was a member of the Executive Council of the Union of Superiors General (USG), and from 2004 to 2010 he was president of the USG juridical commission. In 2004 he received an honorary doctorate in laws from Barry University in Miami, Florida, United States. He was elected in USG assemblies as a member of the XI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2005, on the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Church, and of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2008, on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. The Vatican source also records his participation in the 2008 Synod of Bishops. He concluded his mandate as Master of the Order at the elective general chapter held in Rome in September 2010. Returning to Argentina, from April 2011 he was vice-prior of the Santo Rosario, Santo Domingo, convent in San Miguel de Tucumán, then prior of the Santa Catalina de Siena, Santo Domingo, convent in Córdoba. The diocesan source gives the sequence as sub-prior of the Santo Rosario convent in Tucumán in 2011, prior of Santa Catalina de Siena in Córdoba from 2011 to 2014, and prior of San Martín de Porres in Mar del Plata from 2014 to 2015; it also says he was provincial councilor and vicar of the provincial prior from 2011 to 2015. From 28 February 2014, according to the Vatican source, he was superior of the Dominican community San Martín de Porres in Mar del Plata. He continued teaching and preaching retreats to priests of various dioceses in Argentina, contemplative monasteries, and women religious. His episcopal consecration took place on 22 December 2015 in Bahía Blanca with the motto Alégrense siempre en el Señor. Vuelvo a insistir, alégrense (Phil 4:4). He assumed office as titular archbishop on 12 July 2017, the day Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Guillermo Garlatti.