Bishop Marcelo Benítez Martínez

Bishop Marcelo Benítez Martínez, O.F.M., is the first bishop of the diocese of Caazapá. He was born on 6 September 1956 in Santa María, district of General Morínigo, Department of Caazapá. He entered the Fray Luis Bolaño Franciscan Major Seminary of Lambaré and obtained a licentiate in theology from the Jesuit Humanistic and Philosophical Institute of the Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. He gave his vows in the Order of Friars Minor in 1993, and was ordained a priest in 1994. As a religious of the Franciscan Order, he provided various services in the House of Formation of the Custodia Fray Luis Bolaño from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2003, and served as assistant of the Franciscan Secular Order from 2015 to 2018. Since 2019 he has been vicar of the Provincia de la Asunción de la Santísima Virgen del Río de la Plata, including Argentina and Paraguay. He has held the following offices: deputy parish priest and parish priest of Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Villarrica from 1994 to 2000; deputy parish priest from 2002 to 2003 and parish priest from 2018 to 2019 of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Villarrica; parish priest of San Francisco de Asís in Asunción from 2020 to 2023; and, since 2023, cooperator vicar of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in Villarrica.