Archbishop of Durango
Faustino Armendáriz Jiménez is Archbishop of Durango, Mexico. He was born in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, on 23 July 1955, the son of Valentín Armendáriz Villalobos and Francisca Jiménez Durón. After finishing secondary school, he entered the minor seminary and then the major seminary of Hermosillo and Guadalajara. He was ordained by Archbishop Carlos Quintero Arce on 11 September 1982 in Magdalena de Kino, in the church of San Martín de Porres. He holds a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, Italy, and a diploma in Biblical Oriental Sciences from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem, Israel. He served as assistant vicar at La Purísima Concepción Parish in Nogales, Sonora; director and teacher of the minor seminary in 1986-1990; teacher and formator at the major seminary of Hermosillo for 10 years, at the same time prefect of studies and discipline, teaching dogma for 1 year and Sacred Scripture for 20 years; chaplain in the community of El Llano at the chapel of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe for 10 years; archdiocesan spiritual assistant of the Cursillos de Cristiandad movement in 1985-2001; regional coordinator of the Cursillos movement; coordinator of the Diocesan Council of Laity; founder, director, and teacher of the Catholic Biblical Institute of Hermosillo in 1988-2004; archdiocesan coordinator of Biblical Pastoral Care; member of the Episcopal Commission for Biblical Pastoral Care in Mexico; member of the Presbyteral Council; member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council; parish priest of San Antonio de Padua Church in Hermosillo, Sonora; parish priest of Espíritu Santo Church in Hermosillo, Sonora; and vicar general of the Archdiocese of Hermosillo. Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of the Diocese of Matamoros on 4 January 2005. He received episcopal ordination in that city on 23 February 2005 by the imposition of hands of Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega of Monterrey. He participated in the Fifth Conference of the Latin American Episcopate from 13 to 31 May 2007 in Aparecida, Brazil, and in the Synod on The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church in October 2008. He was a member of the higher council of the Pontifical University of Mexico in 2007-2009 and a member of the Presidency Council of the Mexican Episcopal Conference in 2009-2012. He was responsible for the Episcopal Dimension for the Laity (DELAI) for the period 2012-2015 and was again elected responsible for DELAI for the period 2016-2018. On 20 April 2011 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Querétaro, and he took possession on 16 June 2011. In July 2013 he assumed the office of secretary in the Ecclesiastical Province of Bajío. On 21 September 2019 Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Durango, and he took possession on 21 November 2019.